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.
