Village Automotive Group experts look into the future - Boston.com
228 in Norwell regularly can’t help but notice how Porsche and Audi of Norwell are moving into posh new digs after a year of construction. The project shows that automotive business 1) still is very much about real estate and location and 2) traditional dealerships, instead of being phased-out by the internet, are thriving. But those aren’t the only trends that Village Automotive Group’s founder and president Ray Ciccolo and general manager Dan Leahy are seeing. Q&A with Village Auto Group founder Ray Ciccolo (RC) and GM Dan Leahy (DL). Q: When the country and the auto industry were in a major recession, you said it would be the auto industry that lead the recovery. RC: Something new is happening in the automotive business. Many of the manufacturers now have excess capacity in North America, and they’re going to begin exporting to the rest of the world. I say North America because a lot of the plants are in Mexico. Volvo is the last manufacturer that I’m aware of to build a factory in North America. Q: How do you react to the growth of technology in cars. Slowly, I see a lot of older folks getting used to it. So many people tell me they’re driving a 10-year-old car with 125,000 miles that still runs like a top. But, more and more, they’re realizing that it doesn’t have the safety systems, the backup camera, and the new navigation systems. Years ago, technological growth wasn’t so dramatic. Source: www.boston.com
