Moving on

Hello all, So, the time has finally come to say farewell as this will be my last issue of the magazine as Autotalk Australia editor after more than 5.5 years in the role.

I took over the publication in February 2020 just before the world was turned upside by what became the global COVID-19 pandemic, which saw our borders eventually shut, and a few years of unwarranted stress and anxiety for many people and businesses.

But as always, the automotive industry remained resilient, dealerships pivoted to contactless sales and servicing, and digitalization was swiftly enacted to create efficiencies as well as send manual processes to the bin where they belonged.

As a wise businessperson once said to me, “never let a good crisis go by,” and by that he meant it was the opportunity to effect much needed change, particularly when commercial enterprises were fighting for survival in an uncertain time.

Since the pandemic finished, the past three years have been eventful with manufacturers struggling to fulfill back orders, given the perfect storm of not enough silicon chips to go around mixed in with a huge reduction in the number of available shipping services.

Now the automotive industry must get its collective head around the New Vehicle Emission Scheme (NVES) and how that will reflect in the future showroom offer, where some brands will be better placed than others due to their future product mix.

And the incoming plethora of Chinese product is also shaping the Australian new car market with its mix of affordable, yet high quality product offered with new energy vehicle powertrains.

The next five years is going to be an interesting time for distributors and dealers in Australia, and I have no doubt there will be significant change in the automotive landscape.

It will be fascinating to watch. Thank you to all those people and brands who have supported Autotalk in the past 5.5 years, it has been my pleasure to work with you all and I wish you much success in the future.