% Canadian Green Rock EVs is going gobal as (EVEN Electric) an EV (& electrified) broker, by breaking with the 'ice-style' of selling, as in anyone can use their services to get an EV ... %
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/08/17/even-electric-sell-evs-globally-online/ EVEN Electric will sell EVs globally, online, and better than dealers are doing it today Aug 17th 2016 Sebastian Blanco [images / Gisli Gislason http://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/335/343/2/S3353432/slug/l/32b7641-1.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/335/343/5/S3353435/slug/l/32b7646-1.jpg ] New global company based on a test program in Iceland. Some people like to identify problems, others like to find solutions. The other day, we noted that the Sierra Club sent secret shoppers to over 300 dealers in the US to judge their electric car salemanship. The results were not pretty. Today, EVEN Electric is announcing a new global network of EV stores, with a unified online component. Saying that the standard dealership model fails "to deliver the sales and service experience that EV owners want and need," EVEN Electric's new CEO, Mike Elwood, said in a statement provided to AutoblogGreen that the, "EVEN model was developed to combine the best aspects of both an on-line and in-store retail experience to make it easy for EV customers to find and acquire exactly what they want, when and where they want it." The gist of the new sales plan is that EVEN will keep EVs on hand in "cost-effective centralized processing centers" in a number of countries. Buyers can look through this inventory online and once they pick out a car, it will be shipped to the nearest "Customer Centre" or to the customer's driveway. Those are also the two places where EVEN plans on servicing the vehicles when there are problems. Test drives won't be available in the traditional way, but EVEN says it plans to host, "a robust schedule of test drive events." The company will be headquartered in Toronto. While today marks the start of EVEN's global presence, long-time readers might remember that Gisli Gislasson (EVEN's chairman and founder) opened an EVEN store in Iceland back in 2015. EVEN Electric says that, "that program both validated the concept and allowed the group to collect real world market information, ultimately leading to the formation of the EVEN Electric partnership." [© 2016 AOL] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/culture/technology/canadian-startup-looking-to-sell-electric-cars-in-a-completely-different-way/article31444001/ Canadian startup looking to sell electric cars in a completely different way Aug. 17, 2016 JESSICA LEEDER [image http://static.theglobeandmail.ca/47d/incoming/article31448994.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/EVEN+Concept+Store+Iceland+06.jpg An EVEN concept store in Iceland / (EVEN) ] An upstart Canadian auto seller is aiming to drive the worldwide market for electric vehicle sales by launching an innovative web-based sales platform and showroom that will move transactions online and away from the traditional car lot. Dedicated solely to electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, the GTA-based company, called EVEN Electric, will not be exclusively aligned with one particular auto maker. Instead, the retailer will sell multiple, competing brands of both used and new green vehicles, delivering them right to the driveways of consumers around the world and often to places where electric cars are not yet sold. The model, which departs drastically from traditional auto sales conventions, is designed to address several issues hampering the proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road. EVEN’s founders say many of those issues can be traced to problems at the point-of-sale. “The traditional dealership model has proven unable to deliver the sales and service experience that EV owners want and need,” said Mike Elwood, EVEN’s chief executive officer and a co-founder of Electric Mobility Canada, a national advocacy organization. “The old model is antiquated in the way they make their money. “We’re not trying to sell you a specific brand. We’re trying to sell you the right EV for your lifestyle.” Traditional bricks-and-mortar car dealerships rely heavily on high-volume sales that translate into a steady stream of service dollars – some dealers make up to 50 per cent of their revenue from oil changes, tune-ups and other gas engine-related maintenance. Electric vehicles require less upkeep and most owners visit service centres once per year or less. “We have some clients who drive 50,000 kilometres and bring their car in for service and find it needs very little,” said John Gordon, a co-founder of EVEN who has been operating an all-electric used car dealership outside St. John’s, Nfld., since 2013. On many days, he said, his service centre has no bookings; his mechanic works between three and six hours per week. The lack of prospective service revenue is just one of the cascading factors that has made conventional car dealers slow to embrace EVs; for years, auto industry observers in both Canada and the United States have been documenting the friction and highlighting it as one of the reasons there aren’t more EVs on the road. For dealers, many of whom are franchisees, investing in a slew of EV inventory is an expensive gamble that must be shored up with new (expensive) technology in their service centres (for the rare occasions the EVs they sell that do need fixing), new training for mechanics on electric technology and new training for sales staff. Add to that the fact that making an electric sale takes two and sometimes three times the amount of time compared with a similarly priced gas-powered car (new EV drivers come with a lot of questions). For sales staff working on commission, the choice not to push EVs is a no-brainer. There are problems even when consumers arrive at dealerships informed and ready to buy electric. Not all dealerships are certified to sell EVs; those that are aren’t guaranteed to be prepared to do a deal. A secret shopper survey conducted in 2014 by the Ontario-based EV advocacy organization Plug’n Drive found 38 per cent of certified dealers had a floor model, many of which were not available for test drives. Nearly half the certified dealers surveyed did not even have an EV on their lot. “The industry has evolved to sell a certain kind of gas-powered product very well. They don’t have the skill set to sell innovative, new products in the way that Silicon Valley does,” said Eric Cahill, a California-based vehicle technology consultant who published a dissertation on electric car sales. “We shouldn’t be too surprised that they’re stumbling here,” he said. His firm, Adaptiv Consulting, trains auto sellers to think about how to “borrow from the Apple playbook” when it comes to new technology. This is where EVEN sees itself ahead of the game. Backed by Microsoft, which has pledged to design the company’s cloud-based EV showroom and sales platform, the company plans to register in Ontario but will set up licensed, bricks-and-mortar “education centres” around the world where customers could visit to learn about EVs from staff experts trained to help fit them with the ideal model for their lifestyle. The sleek design of the locations is inspired by Apple and upstart EV auto maker Tesla, which has showrooms but sells most of its cars online. After test-driving a range of models across several brands, a customer would then purchase their chosen vehicle from EVEN’s online inventory. Once adapted according to the safety regulations of the buyer’s home country, the vehicle will be shipped from an EVEN warehouse to the customer or the closest EVEN education centre. Mobile service centres in areas of operation will visit customers to maintain vehicles when needed and to drive awareness of EVs one neighbourhood at a time, said Elwood. A one-year pilot run in Iceland by the company’s third co-founder, Gisli Gislason, has given EVEN data points to build from, Elwood said. Already the company has signed licenses with an operator in Panama. Iceland continues to operate and EVEN has its sights set on breaking ground in the United States, Malta, the Caribbean, Cuba, Belgium, Sweden and several parts of Canada. There will be hurdles: Elwood said the company envisions itself not as an auto dealer, but as an online retailer. But Ontario’s Motor Vehicles Act stipulates that all auto retailers and sales people register with the province, said Terry O’Keefe, director of communications for the Ontario Motor Vehicles Industry Council. “We don’t want to stand in the way of new business models. But we have to ensure we’re fulfilling our mandate and that is consumer protection,” O’Keefe said. Elwood said EVEN is poised to adapt to the necessary conventions, but also to push beyond them to find consumers and new auto makers ready to innovate. “There’s a world out there looking for change. Electric vehicles mean change,” he said. “We’re going to areas that want it. And lots want it.” [© 2016 The Globe and Mail] ... http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/even-electric-announces-a-multi-brand-retail-concept-to-drive-electric-vehicle-industry-300315042.html EVEN Electric Announces a Multi Brand Retail Concept to Drive Electric Vehicle Industry Aug. 17, 2016 ... http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/canadian-firm-plans-new-sales-model-for-evs Canadian firm plans new sales model for EVs Aug. 17, 2016 EVEN Electric will act as an information source and broker to help people buy electric cars http://www.wdrb.com/story/32783966/even-electric-announces-a-multi-brand-retail-concept-to-drive-electric-vehicle-industry ... The driving force behind EVEN Electric are the three partners; -Mike Elwood, CEO and co- founder who also co-founded Electric Mobility Canada which has become a national, membership-based organization dedicated exclusively to the promotion of electric mobility in Canada. -Gisli Gislason, Chairman and founder, is also the founder of Northern Lights Energy Holding and Icelandic Holding Company. Gislason has led a variety of EV activities and research projects from Iceland to China, Japan, Europe and North America and has piloted new ways of selling EVs including concept stores, online sales and test drive road shows. -John Gordon, COO and co-founder , has been operating Canada's first 100% Multi Brand Electric Vehicle Dealership and Service Centre, Green Rock E.V.S., since 2013. Gordon also focuses on re-distribution of off-lease and used EVs and infrastructure charging products throughout the Atlantic Canadian market ... ... https://www.greenrockevs.com/ Green Rock EVS info @greenrockevs.com 709-747-7700 1-844-571-7700 835 Topsail Road, Bay 2 Mount Pearl, NL https://www.greenrockevs.com/pages/bios https://www.facebook.com/greenrocknl/ https://www.luxurydaily.com/dealerships-ill-equipped-to-sell-electric-vehicles-report/ Dealerships ill-equipped to sell electric vehicles: report August 18, 2016 ... "The study shows that some of the automakers and dealers contacted or visited are clearly doing better than others in providing needed EV inventory, sales ... 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