Technology, key to new mobility

On July 23, Dealerbest organized its first webinar titled “Multimodal Mobility: Dystopia?” We have prepared a super summary for you with the most important messages.

Paco Díaz, CEO of Dealerbest, Ricardo Oliveira, founder of World Shopper; Mar García, Partner of Automotive and Mobility at Grant Thornton Spain; Jaime Gómez-Oliveros, General Manager of GJ Automotive and Emilio Mellado, CEO of World Wide Mobility, debated the new mobility models and the challenges facing dealerships and automotive professionals as a result of the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

Moderated by Eduardo Losada, Head of Marketing and Digital Sales at Dealerbest, the debate was broadcast live on YouTube and followed by an audience that interacted with the speakers, raising their questions and asking interesting questions about the current state and future of mobility.

What will mobility look like in January 2022?

For all participants, technology will be essential in mobility models in 2022. In the words of Paco Díaz, “mobility will be everywhere as an open model, buying fewer cars and using more vehicles. Dealerships and official services will be key players. COVID-19 has accelerated digitalization.”

Jaime Gómez-Oliveros stressed that subscription mobility is here to stay, generating business and profitability. In fact, GJ Automotive has already joined the new shared mobility model of Quikly in Burgos, offering the people of Burgos a pioneering service in the area that responds to different mobility needs, with the possibility of having the car they want whenever they want.

Mar García agreed with this statement and added the importance of carrying out an ecological transition and the need for complete health safety.

Emilio Mellado, for his part, highlighted that this technology that will prevail in 2022 is already being developed and implemented in carsharing services, leasing, or subscription models.

For Ricardo Oliveira, the pandemic has shown that mobility needs have changed and electrification will accelerate to reduce CO2 emissions.

So, will technology be the key to this mobility?

All five speakers agreed that technology will play a fundamental role in the new mobility. For Emilio Mellado, “technology has already changed the way cars are tested and sold. It allows you to rent immobilized vehicles and take advantage of idle assets. The next step is being able to open the car with your mobile phone.”

Jaime Gómez-Oliveros noted that carsharing and subscription services will be based on mobile applications that will have an increasingly larger Artificial Intelligence component.

For Paco Díaz, technology is the key as long as it serves the people who make things happen, adapting to change.

Ricardo Oliveira stated that the car as a service is a concept that has been used for some time and that the difference with the current moment is the technology present.

Mar García added to the concept of technology the importance of user experience, which is at the center of the new mobility ecosystems.

What should be the biggest concern for dealerships?

In the opinion of the participants, dealerships should not fear new mobility, but rather stagnation and resistance to adapting to change. Paco Díaz highlighted that Spanish dealerships have the most immobilized vehicles and emphasized the need to be on time for new challenges.

Could this stagnation cause companies like Uber to take over that mobility business?

Although Uber has already reached an agreement to implement its carsharing service, all speakers agreed that dealerships should be the protagonists of the new mobility compared to these new modern players. Given the decline in sales due to financing rejections, shared mobility is an alternative revenue model for dealerships.

Is this mobility model exportable globally?

According to Ricardo Oliveira, “there is no specific model of modality for each country, but rather a mobility is being built that will be global, with local initiatives being necessary within a global movement.”

The webinar “Multimodal Mobility. Dystopia?” showed that the new modality has come to democratize car use and that users have different needs depending on different situations, and it is the task of dealerships to respond to each and every one of them.

Did you miss the webinar? Don’t worry. You can watch it in full here.