Seems like all the corporations are in a race to downsize, no one wants to be the last below deck.
"The car salesman, unfortunately, goes away. The whole stigma of the car salesman is gone" as well, predicted one car dealer. "There will be a minimal need for sales managers. Service managers and technicians will still be needed, but on a limited basis because the battery life on the electric cars will keep getting better and the service intervals will be less. F&I? I see that department completely going away."
Overall, "You need far less people working, and their job description is more of product presenters" rather than salespeople, the dealer said.
Do we really need car salesmen?
the points about skirting US state dealership laws are worth a read.
Aren't there a bunch of state level hurdles against selling cars directly to consumers? I suppose they must have worked those out.
With the base price cuts, the FSD package is back and enhanced autopilot is gone. In place of EAP is simply Autopilot which is now priced at $3,000. That lower price comes with the loss of those enhancements, Navigate on Autopilot, autopark and summon which are now part of the FSD package. FSD is now priced at $5,000 on top of the autopilot package which is now limited to adaptive cruise control and lane centering, features that come at no additional charge on many cars that cost up to $15,000 less than a Model 3. Those features that cost a not insignificant $5,000 as recently as Thursday morning now cost $3,000 more. The same pricing changes also apply to the Model S and X.
