ATLANTA -

The battle for captive auto finance business in the future will be won — or lost — in the world of digital real estate, according to Jonny Combe, general manager of product and channel development at BMW Group Financial Services.

Combe insisted the reasons are obvious, elaborating about two specific points:

—When more than half of Generation Y car buyers would currently prefer to visit the dentist than haggle with a vehicle salesman.

—When many view visiting a car showroom “rather like visiting a funeral.”

Combe told delegates at the recent White Clarke Group Auto Captives Summit in London that the disruptors in the shape of the new breed of financial technology (Fintech) companies have already spotted where the demand lies in the new generation of car buyers.

“With Gen Y buyers forecast to be accounting for around 75 percent of all new vehicle sales by 2025 — you will have to get your selling approach correct — or you’ll be dead on the water,” Combe said.

Combe highlighted a BMW report into consumer purchasing behavior which revealed that whereas in 2003 vehicle buyers made an average of four visits to a showroom prior to making a purchase, by 2013 this had diminished to 1.5 visits.

“Also,” he said, “in 2003 only 1 percent of car buyers researched their car online before making a purchase. By 2013, this had risen to 92 percent.

“Soon,” Combe went on to say, “they will be making the purchase itself online — by their mobile phone.”

To combat this development, Combe emphasized captive finance auto companies need to revolutionize their websites especially with regard to video content and mobile optimization until they become “designed as mobile-first.”

Combe showed delegates a range of potential and actual disruptors which are quietly beavering away changing the way people will buy their vehicles, including by their methods, their techniques and their mobile technology.

“Previously,” he said, “the battle to win car sales was fought out in the showroom, but no longer, because millennials and Gen Y buyers will simply not be there.”