Quarantines and lockdowns are new orders of the day brought about by outbreak of deadly coronavirus across the entire world. The automobile industry has been indeed greatly affected since moving of persons has been restricted due to quarantines and lockdowns.
Individuals can no longer physically access showrooms and view cars, however, all is not lost for the industry The automobile industry is experiencing an increase in online orders for cars amidst the coronavirus situation.
Majority of auto dealers have being encouraging their client to use their respective e-commerce platforms and place online orders for cars as a measure of avoiding physical contact which is the main cause of coronavirus transmission from one person to others.
Auto dealers are claiming online traffic on their various platforms has increased. The companies says these platforms best fit current situations since the typical handshakes won’t have to be made once they have closed a deal with a client.
The sector was among the first ones affected by the pandemic instantly and very fast, according to a study conducted by research firm J.D. Power, by the first 19 days of March auto dealers were already griping with a 22% decline in demand for cars.
In areas where the virus was spreading quickly in the U.S including Seattle area, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles the auto dealers experience even more decline in demand of up to 30%.
Experts from Moody Analytics have estimated that demand for both new and second hand cars could plunge to up to 20% with reference to 2019 and this decline in demand can possibly spread up to 2021.
Evercore ISI, a research firm also released a study covering 40 auto dealers which indicated the March seasonal adjusted selling rate in the United States will be figures between 11 to 12 million cars. This value will be directly on par with the adjusted one of the 2008/2009 financial crisis.
The firm also claimed online traffic for the 1,000 car dealers based in both the United States and Canada had experienced a 6% increase in their digital sales platforms since the epidemic struck.
