DrivingSales Confab Looks at Car Dealers as Disruptors

Car dealers typically aren’t seen as industry disrupters, but an upcoming auto retailing conference’s speaker lineup includes an academic who sees disruption opportunities in the traditional franchised dealership system.

Luke Williams, a New York University business professor, is among the keynote speakers at the DrivingSales Presidents Club event. It kicks off with an evening reception on April 16 followed by a full-day agenda on April 17 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

Williams will discuss how dealers can transform their business before market forces do. He’ll also speak on reshaping a dealership without going backward first and with an eye towards costs.

Also keynoting is Patrick Manzi, senior economist for the National Automobile Dealers Assn. He will give an economic update, identify major industry trends and offer a forecast for this year and next.

The conference agenda includes a panel discussion featuring Jared Hamilton, head of DrivingSales and three industry CEOs: Cars.com’s Alex Vetter. TrueCar’s Chip Perry, and Tekion’s Jay Vijayan.

They will discuss (and debate) emerging innovations and their impact on auto retailing. Among panel topics: Which innovations are novelties and which are for-real ones that will alter the way dealers operate.

An afternoon of breakout sessions will cover digital retailing, using artificial intelligence to improve customer relationships, fixed-operations marketing and building a dealership brand.

Click here to register and get more conference information.