The Shake-Up Coming for Car Dealerships
5/28/202623 min
There’s finally another way to buy a new car, as companies like Carvana and Volkswagen’s new brand Scout are challenging the traditional dealership model. WSJ’s Christopher Otts explains how a decades-old system is starting to show some wear. Jessica Mendoza hosts.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJessica Mendoza· Host0:00
[instrumental music] When you head southeast out of Phoenix, Arizona, what you'll see is mostly empty space.
Christopher Otts0:11
You're driving through just miles and miles of essentially desert. There's, like, cactuses and just a clear sky, and it's, it's very remote.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:27
Our colleague, Chris Otts, made that trip recently to the small town of Casa Grande. Chris covers the auto industry, and he was on his way to a sleepy car dealership out in the desert that had caught his interest.
Christopher Otts0:41
It's pretty small. Um, there's a few people inside. There's a few people waiting on their cars to be serviced. There's a few mechanics out back.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:51
For years, this dealership sold maybe a few dozen cars a month. But now...
Christopher Otts1:00
This particular store is now doing about 350 sales a month.
Jessica Mendoza· Host1:06
Those skyrocketing sales have taken place over the last year, ever since the store was taken over by a new owner, Carvana, a company most known for selling used cars online. But Carvana is now bringing its modern approach to car sales into the new car business, and the dealership in Casa Grande is early proof of success.