Online marketing has created a space for itself in the luxury industry. The concept has now extended itself into the automobile industry and you can actually order cars online. It is an absolutely concept to buy a car online. BMW, the luxury car maker from Germany has taken the bold initiative and has adapted the new method of selling cars. They are busy with the scheduled launch of their new cars i3 city car and i8 sports car next year. These are the environmentally friendly vehicles that will become available next year.
The Online Channel of Sales is Very Cost Effective
The hybrids model of cars cannot be produced cheap at this stage and that’s the reason the car maker is trying to cut cost on distribution and marketing of the new models. If the experiment is successful the company would surely make many more models available on line. The online channel of sales is very cost effective as compared to a distributor and dealer network. BMW has invested close to $3 billion on developing the technology for these environmentally friendly models. They need to have an efficient channel of sales to make the new cars profitable for the company. The online channel reduces the cost of distribution drastically and helps the car maker recover the high investment quickly. Ian Robertson, chief of marketing at BMW confirmed that every new line of cars are developed with a profit motive and all efforts will be made to make the new line profitable from day one.
The Online Channel Can’t Enable Customers to Test Drive
Critics are apprenhsive about the feasibility of selling cars online. The major issue is that customers would not be able to test drive the cars online. This according to the experts is the biggest obstacle in the online channel becoming popular with the prospective buyers. There are policy matters in the US and government regulations that will come in the way of companies selling cars directly to the customers. However, the online channel will become useful in spreading awareness about the new models. The company is also taking the new models on a tour of key markets where it expects them to be the most popular.
The New BMW Models Will Travel to Cities
Called the BMW i Born Electric Tour, it will be launched in Rome and travel to six other major cities over the next twelve months. The German luxury carmaker will also launch a rage of exclusive retail stores or dealerships that will showcase the new models. The store will be called BMW i Store. The first such store has been launched in London’s Trendy Park Lane. Very soon similar stores will be launched in other cities. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is determined to devise new ways of reaching their potential customers in order to recover the investments they have made to create more efficient new models. The low emission vehicles have a history of facing sluggish demand at the dealerships. The company is planning to deploy a roaming sales force to back the limited showroom network. However the experts warn that if the experiment doesn’t succeed immediately then there is a danger that the image of the company will take a hit. The new models will become available in late 2013 and the prices estimated are in the range of $48,500 for the four seat i3 model. The i8 will be the luxury model that would cost more than 100,000 Euros.
Via: motorauthority, bloomberg
