It's no secret that COVID-19 has turned the automotive industry upside down, and it has some employees looking for creative, new ways to stay in the car business.
“Cars is like my favorite thing,” said car enthusiast Kyle Ague.
It was his job to know everything you could ever need to know about high end cars. He taught customers how to use their cars, even did house calls and trained sales staff. And then came COVID-19. Auge was furloughed. So, he took that love of cars to the internet.
“We’ve created a website that we’re calling EnginePass.com. It’s an automotive expertise website,” he explained. “We share reviews, lifestyle pieces.”
The Center for Automotive Research says there's a lot of opportunity for technological advances and for ideas like EnginePass.com.
“Clever young people that have those ideas, go for it,” urged CEO Carla Bailo. “He time has never been better.”
The automotive think tank does research in every facet of the industry, which is now completely upside down.
Factory shut downs, lack of revenue, low sales--it has led dealers to do unique things like personally delivering cars. There's even been virtual auctions, people buying things sight unseen. And lots of buyer uncertainty.
And as things slowly start to open back up, the team at Engine Pass are featuring what people want to know and what they can expect right now when buying a car.
For Auge, it's a new way to remain involved in the world that he loves so much.
“The dealership model might change a little bit and I’d personally rather be on the more forward-facing side of that and be a resource for people because you don’t know what the future holds for the dealership model,” Auge said.
