Automakers are rethinking plans for innovative city center retailer formats and instead looking at ways to increase their visibility in the suburbs in response to a shift away from large metropolitan areas as a result of the pandemic.
That was one of the key takeaways from panelists who participated in the Automotive News Europe Shift online event, "Sizing the Dealer Network in the New Normal."
"We need to fully understand the socio-demographic shifts we have seen with COVID-19 and which ones will continue to gain traction in a post-COVID world," Spiros Fotinos, director of Lexus Europe and head of EV planning at Toyota Europe, said. "We see suburbs becoming sexy again, as people trade balconies for gardens, and we need to understand where the luxury consumer is physically going."
Fotinos said Lexus was prepared to expand its coverage to the suburbs if demand there dictated it.