Intent on gathering data for marketing, Jaguar is demanding customer information from dealers and threatening to penalize them by as much as six figures if they don't comply.
Dealers aren't too happy about the options.
"We don't want guys in our systems," said a dealership source familiar with the request, as reported by Automotive News.
Jaguar Land Rover North America announced the request on Feb. 7 as part of a marketing program known as Single View CRM.
Dealers are concerned that if they release the customer data from their computer systems, they will be held legally culpable if the data leaks to a third party, according to Automotive News. They could also be in trouble with federal regulators who work to protect consumer data.
Jaguar Land Rover has countered that objection by saying the data would be adequately protected against such leaks. If dealerships don't surrender the information, Jaguar said it will withhold quarterly incentives.
Stores that don't put their signatures on the marketing program agreement could sustain losses into six figures from the withheld incentives, Automotive News reported.
As the world of marketing becomes increasingly targeted to the individual consumer, the dealership information is invaluable to Jaguar.
"A CRM system allows the company and the retailers to best manage all aspects of a customer's experience with the brands and to tailor our sales and services efforts appropriately," Christopher Marchand, executive vice president of operations at Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement.
According to the company, Jaguar's marketing program isn't trying to garner any data that would violate the Federal Trade Commission's regulations on sensitive information.
"Every retailer may not be 100 percent happy with it, but it is the direction the company is going," said Michael Levitan, chairman of the Jaguar Land Rover Retailer Cabinet and COO of the Long Island Automotive Group.
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