The shortage of vehicles on Acura lots over the past year is causing shoppers to look elsewhere, said Glenn Davis, chairman of the Acura National Dealer Advisory Board. Davis, who owns Davis Honda in Burlington, N.J., and Davis Acura in Langhorne, Pa.
That means that Acura dealers need to work harder to reestablish brand loyalty now that recovering inventory presents luxury buyers more choices on what to buy.
“Customer defection rates between luxury brands is at an all-time high because of lack of availability, and I think that’ll continue and people will continue to switch brands,” Davis told Automotive News.
In the past, he said, a strong leasing portfolio previously helped dealers keep buyers coming back in. But many leasing customers bought out their leases in the summer months when the buyout was lower than the value, and now higher leasing payments no longer offer the attractive proposition they once did.