NYT - Know Who Really Hates Electric Cars? Car Dealers
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Industry insiders and those who follow the business closely say that dealers may also be worrying about their bottom lines. They assert that electric vehicles do not offer dealers the same profits as gas-powered cars. They take more time to sell because of the explaining required, which hurts overall sales and commissions. Electric vehicles also may require less maintenance, undermining the biggest source of dealer profits — their service departments. Dealers’ caution, whatever their reasons, has created a “reality check to the idealism,” said Eric Cahill, who recently completed a dissertation on electric car sales for the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. Retailers are a “bottleneck,” his research shows. They may hold the key to growing the niche, but dealers “may have very good reasons for steering a potential buyer away from an E.V.”
The vehicles are not for everyone. They typically go only 80 miles or so before they need to be recharged. While many people charge them at home, public charging stations remain limited, particularly outside California. Air conditioning and heat drain the battery quickly, so weather can affect performance. But the cars have big selling points. Owners can ignore fluctuating gas prices. Government subsidies can lead to price breaks of $10,000 or more. The cars accelerate quickly, too.
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According to Dr. Cahill, a 2013 J.D. Power survey found that electric-car buyers were significantly less satisfied with their car dealer than were buyers of traditional cars. Consumer Reports last year published results from a secret shopper survey in which its representatives visited dealers around the country and found, for example, a Toyota salesperson in Bayside, Queens, who would not even show a Prius plug-in that the dealer had in stock, and a Ford dealer in Manhattan who denied that Ford offered an electric Focus model (not true). Charge Across Town, a California-funded nonprofit that advocates electric vehicles, organizes events to introduce consumers to dealers, but has had to work hard at times just to get dealers to show up. In August in San Diego, at the first such event, a few dealers showed up, but to the astonishment of the organizers wouldn’t let anyone test-drive or even sit in the cars, said Maureen Blanc, who heads Charge Across Town.
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Maybe that helps explains the experience of Robert Kast, who last year leased a Volkswagen e-Golf from a local dealer. He said the salesman offered him a $15-per-month maintenance package that included service for oil changes, belt repair and water pumps. “I said: ‘You know it doesn’t have any of those things,’” Mr. Kast recalled. He said the salesman excused himself to go confirm this with his manager. Of the whole experience, Mr. Kast, 61, said: “I knew a whole lot more about the car than anyone in the building.”
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/science/electric-car-auto-dealers.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Thus small cars have small profit margins and for that reason American Car Dealers HATED small cars. Given that hated and refusal to even stock such cars the Japanese were able to move into the US Auto Market selling the type of car, US Dealers did not want to sell. Once in, the Japanese and Volkswagen moved up to the much more profitable large car market and SUV Market. At that point US Dealers started to want to sell VWs and Japanese models, but the desire to sell only high profit models remained.
Thus you could purchased a small car in the 1980s and 1990s but what was being pushed were mid-size and larger cars. Even Honda ended up in the mid size range. The Japanese did not abandon their small cars in the US but they became a side line. Ford tried to sell small cars in the US in the 1970s and afterward, but every time they brought out a new small cars, the dealers refused to carry it and since it was NOT on the lot, few people bought them in the US.
Thus Car dealers want to sell models of cars that people desire, not just a car. The larger cars tend to be models that people want as oppose to a car they need. This difference is why marketing of cars is so important. Once a car is "Wanted" you can sell it at a premium. The cost to actual make cars tend to be about the same, but the more wanted a car is the more you can sell it for (and the more commission for the saleman).
The #2 reason is most car salesmen tend to be horsepower nuts. Going from Zero to 60 in so many seconds is more important to them then fuel economy. It is hard for them to sell a car that they joke about saying "Its get up and go, got up and left", but that phase summed up the better fuel economy cars of the 1970s till today.
Yes, electric drive can be FASTER and has much higher traction power then a gasoline engine, but the makers of Hybrids and electric drive cars are NOT pushing their performance but their fuel economy. Thus the fact electric drive can propel a vehicle faster is a fact foreign to car dealers (it is known to Railroad Engineers, ship Captains etc, for what we call Diesel Engines are really Diesel Electric engines, the Diesel is a generator that produces electric current that is then sent to electric motors attached to the wheels, on a Diesel Locomotive, or to the propeller, on a ship). Salesmen do not know this for over the last 50 years, the fastest cars have been sports cars and SUVs all with gasoline engines.
Over the weekend my brother and sister saw an ad for the 1960s movie "Bullet" and we joked about its two "Stars" (the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Charger"
and its supporting actor (Winchester pump). In many ways that is how most Car Salesmen see that movie, the stars are the cars RACING all over the place. They see themselves and the cars they are selling as power machines that let you show the world how powerful you are. That is the image they want to sell for when it sells, it means higher commission to the salesmen for the buyer is willing to pay more for that image of him or herself.
Side note: Car Dealers will carry "family cars" but view them with contempt. These were the Station wagons of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and the Mini-Vans of the 1980 till today. Along with these two types, they threw in pickup trucks, but NOT SUVs. Pick ups, Mini-Vans and Station wagons are purchased by people who want a basic vehicle to haul people and things. Power and speed is only important to such buyers in relations to hauling. People would go out of they way to buy these things for they needed them, but make and model tended NOT to be important to them as oppose to price (i.e. much like small car buyers). This is where the last of the manual transmission survived, but car dealers hated manual transmissions and refused to order them and since most people in this market tended to buy off the lot, manual transmission slowly disappeared from Pickups (and disappeared from Station Wagons in the 1960s and were never seen in Mini-vans). Today only Dodge provides a Manual Transmissions for its Pickups.
Please note, while SUVs started as modified Pickups, the people who purchased them tend to be people who were NOT into hauling people or things. In many ways the Race Cars buyers of the 1960s and 1970s turned to SUVs in the 1980s and 1990s. They wanted to show the world that they had power. SUVs provided that image and thus could be sold at a premium in the 1980s, 1990s and even today. Bigger engines and automatic transmissions came to rule his section of the car buying market. SUVs and the Race Car, Sports Car and Large Car markets are high profit vehicles for makers of cars AND for dealers. These are the types of cars Car Dealers want to sell, mostly do to their high profit margin for people want a particular type and make of SUV, Race Car, Sports Car and Large Car. A competitor down the street with a different make and model will NOT satisfy them (Unlike Small cars, Station Wagons, Min-Vans and Pickup buyers where a small type by made by a competitor will suffice).
It is that move to the mid size and larger car markets that the big three US car makers fought against in the 1970s. The big Three had left the compact and sub compact market be dominated by Japan and the VW Beetle in the 1960s, that when the gas crisis hit they could NOT respond fast enough while VW and the Japanese Car makers just brought in their larger models. People tend to buy a car in their 20s and tend to stay with that make for the rest of their lives. In the 1960s and 1970s when the baby boomers where in their 20s, they purchased the cheapest car they could find and became a loyal buyer of that make. Thus when they started to make money they purchased larger models from that same car maker.
As you can see these two reasons, high profits from selling larger vehicles and most salesmen being picked to sell these higher profit cars based on their increased performance and interrelated and best view together but with the understanding they are two different concepts. Electric cars do NOT give the IMAGE of power salesmen want to sell and do to the extra costs of them, the profit margins are marginal compared to SUVs, Race Cars, Sports Cars and Large Cars. Thus the salesmen dismiss them.
One GM executive once dismissed the Prius as a high price come on. He was silenced when another GM executive pointed out as a high price come on, it brought so many new buyers to Toyota dealers that as a come on, it was worth every penny (Most of the people who entered the dealer did not buy the Prius but did buy another Toyota product, which provided the profit to carry the cost of the Prius).
Marketing is fun to look at, but you have to understand Marketing. Dealers want to sell high profit cars, SUVs, Race Cars, Sports Cars, Large cars. They will sell small cars, Pickups, Station Wagons, Mini-vans etc but understand those are steady but low profit markets and will put the least time into selling those vehicles (they tend to sell themselves anyway). Thus, most people who are NOT into Large Cars, SUVs, Race Cars or Sports Car tend to be viewed as buyers of what is on the lot and if pushed to much will go down the street to another dealer. Thus car salesmen do NOT want to waste they time on them.
On the other hand the Large Cars, SUVs, Race Cars or Sports Car buyer will NOT go down the street, but want to buy what the salesmen is selling, a self image of power. Thus the salesmen cater to these people for they represent a high commission.
That's the trap of civilization for you. 
