Scion Rolls Out Internet Purchase For Millennials That Shun Face To Face Social Interaction

I'm under the impression that Millennials aren't much into buying cars. If that's true, then investing in trying to woo that market will always have meagre returns.

The CLA draws a LOT of upwardly mobile millennials as does the A3 and other pricey cars like Minis. Millennials on a shoestring budget will shop solely on price and Mitsubishi and Chevy have the sales of the Mirage and Spark to show for it.

Manufactures that embrace an online strategy for purchasing cars will win. Millennials do not want to deal with the BS dealers pull on consumers. They want salesman to be honest and genuine. I had an awful experience at a BMW dealership last year that sent me marching right to the competition. While I highly value the driving experience and would want to test drive, I would love to then order online and have the car delivered to me.

Jeff, what transpired at the BMW dealer?

Internet sales are not something Scion invented. They actually exist all over the place. Granted, the bulk of internet sales for say a Ford or Chevy store is going to be fleet sales, but anyone can buy via the Internet.

Millennials--I think--are different because we are in some ways ahead of the game. We expect to find everything by swiping on our iPhones.

Dealers haven't caught up to us yet. Because management tends to be older, they do not fully recognize just how much the smartphone has shifted communication and business dealings.

My brother (25) and his husband (24) were recently in the market to replace my brother's BMW. Both are gainfully employed and have a healthy shared income. Kyle--my brother--narrowed now his search to one car without driving any of them. He emailed the dealer his configuration and the dealer did its best to match his request.

Did Kyle take advantage of my help? Nope. For one, he's as fiercely independent as I am, but for two going to the dealer and spending time was not what he wanted to do.

He and I are wired differently and may as well be from different generations despite me being only 15 months older.

His annoyance was that manufacturers offer a configurator where you can build and price your car, but there really is no way to get the car you've configured.

I know some will scoff that configurators are just what ifs, but given that millennials do everything with a swipe of the iPhone, it would seem logical that they could secure financing, configure a car, reach a price, and go to the dealer and drive it home.

I would suggest that the configurator be restructured so that it has two options.

Option 1 would allow you to configure an order that you would place a deposit on and wait for the vehicle to arrive. Obviously the software could do a metasearch for the vehicle nationwide to speed delivery.

Option 2 would ask for your zip code and then be synced to actual stock within a 150-mile radius of your nearest dealer. You would choose options first and color last for obvious reason.

You would want to choose options first because choosing color first narrows the field too quickly.

That would make the configurator more what millennials would expect, but it would benefit all customers.

Millennials are very much in the now and waiting around is not something they want to do. I have had a few verbal fights with old-guard store managers who think it's perfectly fine to let the customer sit for 30 or 40 minutes rather than be speedy and close the deal.

I drew the ire of one manager because I noticed that customers had been sitting 15 minutes, so I went over to the salesman's computer, asked them what their offer was and closed the deal because the numbers worked. We made an OK profit. I did it to him several times that day.

I am a very atypical millennial because of my "grandfathers'" influence. When I was 14 I was "adopted" by several elderly gentlemen who were complete car nuts