Now, Campbell has vans to deliver the accessories people will want to put on their new vehicles, or so Robinson and Ford hope. The speed is necessary, Robinson says, because when North Americans buy a car they like to get it today, not tomorrow.
Ford's plan is to enable the dealerships to sell those profitable accessories when they're selling the new vehicle and be able to get them delivered so quickly they don't delay the actual turning over of the new car or pickup or sport-ute.
The Ford accessories delivery system is also being tried out in Dallas, Sacramento, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Orlando.
If it works out well in the U.S. cities, Robinson says, they may consider home or office installation in the next six months, in the US if not Canada.
Across the GTA in Oshawa, General Motors of Canada is looking at something considerably more modest and consumer-dependent, but computer-based.
Nancy McLean, the director of sales and marketing at GM Service Parts Operations, says the Internet program was created to let people see what their vehicles would look like with different accessories attached.