On November 5, the Emerson Cheverolet/Buick/Pontiac car dealership located on Center Street in Auburn celebrated its 40th year anniversary in conjunction with the addition of Emerson Toyota to the Emerson Auto Park address. For the Emerson brothers, who used to wash cars on their father’s car lot to earn spending money, auto dealership is a family affair; the industry runs through their blood like premium gasoline through a fine-tuned engine.

With 40 years experience “under the hood,” Leslie (Jock), John and Jim have a clear snapshot of the significant changes in the industry and how they have affected their products, services and customer relationships.

“We’ve been together the whole route,” says John Emerson. Looking back, he and his brothers recognize a direct connection between changes in the industry and consumer lifestyles.

“For instance, today,” continues John, “safety is king.”

Twenty-five years ago, children rode in the front seat, sitting or standing. Seat belts and car seats were not a topic of discussion. In 2003, some automobiles feature built-in booster seats in addition to seat belts. Warning messages appear on visors describing the best safety seating for children, and most new vehicles offer front airbags; many now offer side impact airbags as well.

With such attention to safety, it isn’t surprising that the sales of larger-scale vehicles, providing more body around its passengers, have increased.

“Better than half of all new vehicle sales are extended cab pick up trucks and all wheel drive (AWD) sports utility vehicles (SUV’s) and sports wagons,” notes Jock Emerson. “These are the station wagons of our generation.”

According to Jock, quality and dependability of product is the punctuation in the definition of auto industry change. “Over the years, the industry has made great strides in quality. Driven by our Japanese competition, we’ve learned how to change and improve our own products,” he explained. “Consequently, the quality and dependability of today’s vehicles are two generations better and more fuel efficient than cars of twenty-five years ago.”

Improved fuel efficiency meeting government emission standards has driven the industry to develop more sophisticated engines and transmissions creating, in turn, a product more complicated to service.

“Our investment in service equipment is much greater today than in the seventies,” admits Jocko. “When our dad signed his dealership agreement in 1963, there were fifteen new car dealerships. Today, it’s three dealership groups partly due to the increased investment required to sell and service vehicles in 2003.”

He points out that part of the increased investment includes more extensive training and knowledge for those employees working to service their products. Technological savvy combined with computers and access to the internet help Emerson staff more efficiently service both product and customers.

“Computers and the internet have played a key role in helping our technicians service our products with immediacy,” said Jock. “With the newest technologies, our service staff can communicate with the car manufacturer and work together on servicing the vehicle.”

Improved computer technology also makes for a more informed consumer.

“Our customers do their homework long before entering the showroom,” he continued. “They have a clear picture of what they need, can afford, and how they want to finance it. The ill-informed, less than professional, “old school” sales approach has given way to salespeople who are now factory-certified and trained to represent the products in a professional manner.”

Technology and government regualtions are not the only factors that have driven change in the auto industry, however. With an increasing number of women in the work force, the female customer is in more control of her financial decisions and investments than ever before. Women are determining how vehicles must perform and are selecting cars based on their own criteria.

Additionally, more women are making their way into the traditionally male-dominated field of auto sales. Emerson Cheverolet/Buick/Pontiac has four female salespeople on staff as well as a female manager of their new body shop, who Jock describes as “a professional, the best in her field,” noting there is “also a healthy demand for well-trained female salespeople in the auto industry.”

The company’s finance and insurance office is run by Susan Cote, who has more than 20 years of experience as an automotive professional, he added.

With a more astute consumer, increased demand for quality, dependability, and advances in technology, the challenge has been to control costs and still offer a reliable product to the public.

“Twenty-five or thirty years ago, customers sat down with the salesman and they would grind out a price,” recalled John. “Loans would go through banks or credit unions. Originally, rebates were a marketing tool intended to move lingering product that dealers wanted to get off their lots. I don’t think they were intended to stay, but people caught on. When the incentives went away, business would slow down. Buyers became trained to wait. Rebates have created a buyer’s market and the market is fierce.”

In addition to rebates, dealers can now arrange for low interest financing on the premises. With loans for new or late model cars at 60 months with interest still under 5%, the brothers agree that buying a car is a good or better deal today than it has ever been before.