A day after his company created an Internet sensation by revealing the European version of its ID Buzz retro-styled electric microbus, Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh had a much more grounded message for dealers here: Focus on your employees.
“I think the single biggest topic that needs to be addressed is employment, compensation and labor, and I think the opportunity that we all have is to introduce a new world of people to our industry,” he told a packed room Thursday at the NADA Show. “This is not a dinosaur business that’s been doing the same thing for 30 years. You have new technologies, new innovations, new ways of learning.”
Keogh said that as automakers and dealers see their lineups transform from traditional internal combustion-powered vehicles to EVs, it is an opportunity for dealers to refocus their operations and concentrate on building staffs that are helpful experts to their customers.
The “biggest differentiator” for dealers “is not the facility. It’s not the store. It’s not the location. It’s who’s inside the store that wins each and every time,” said Keogh. “If I was in dealer mode, this is what I would be uniquely focused on: personnel, talent, retention, training.”
Keogh confirmed that the U.S. version of the ID Buzz — which won’t arrive until 2024 — will be bigger, with a larger battery, more power and “a lot more range” than the European version revealed Wednesday.
Keogh told dealers that EV sales will continue to grow quickly. EVs “represented 1 percent of the market two years ago; now year to date it’s 6 percent. It’s here.”