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Selling electric vehicles: Experiences from vehicle salespeople in Sweden
KTH, School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM).ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5201-3362
KTH, School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6272-910x
2022 (English)In: Research in Transportation Business and Management (RTBM), ISSN 2210-5395, E-ISSN 2210-5409, Vol. 45, p. 100882-, article id 100882Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Electric vehicles are capturing ever larger market shares of the new vehicle market in several large vehicle markets such as Europe and China. However, electric vehicles still only make up a small fraction of the total vehicle fleet. Much research has been focused on the perspective of existing or prospective adopters of Electric Vehicles. Less emphasis has been placed on intermediaries such as vehicle salespeople, who could be important mediators in the product matching process by providing helpful information, facilitating direct experience and directly influencing vehicle buyers' adoption decisions. This paper addresses this research gap using a qualitative investigation of vehicle salespeople at OEMs who sell both Electric Vehicles and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles on the Swedish market. Fifteen interviews with vehicle salespeople at leading OEMs were conducted in the fall of 2017. The results reveal that the sales process of vehicles is mainly focused on the sales of Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles. Electric Vehicles are treated as niche products which often require the vehicle buyer to initiate the sales process. It can be concluded that OEMs, dealerships and vehicle salespeople have taken relatively few steps to influence mainstream buyers to consider Electric Vehicles as an alternative to Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles at the point of sale. Possible reasons for the bias towards Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles can be found in the apparent lack of training and experience regarding Electric Vehicles among vehicle salespeople, more extended sales and delivery times for Electric Vehicles and a commission structure that often favours Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier BV , 2022. Vol. 45, p. 100882-, article id 100882
Keywords [en]
Electric vehicles, Dealerships, Vehicles salespeople
National Category
Economics and Business
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-324782DOI: 10.1016/j.rtbm.2022.100882ISI: 000938710100006Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85137705973OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-324782DiVA, id: diva2:1743928
Note

QC 20230316

Not duplicate with diva2:1458467 /submitted manuscript version

Available from: 2023-03-16 Created: 2023-03-16 Last updated: 2023-03-20Bibliographically approved

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Hagman, JensJanhager Stier, Jenny

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