Automotive Balanced Scorecards: 5 Best Practices

Automotive balanced scorecards (BSCs) provide a comprehensive view of your network’s performance, helping you identify underperforming areas and highlight top performers. Used correctly, this framework can minimise performance disparity and establish best practices across the network.

The automotive industry is facing significant challenges and opportunities. Brands are concerned with meeting EV quotas, the development of the agency/hybrid sales model and supplying the fluctuating customer demand for ICE and EV. An automotive scorecard system provides a systematic way to monitor multiple factors across all dealership locations.

Benchmarking locations adds an element of healthy competition. We regularly witness sites vying for the top spot in the league tables, driven by data transparency. Rather than seeing progress towards targets in silos, dealers can see their rank and that of others in a balanced scorecard.

From our experience of helping many automotive brands with their business performance measurement, here are five essential balanced scorecard best practices for the automotive industry:

1. Creating a comprehensive automotive balanced scorecard;
2. Effectively structuring your balanced scorecards;
3. Taking advantage of automation and AI;
4. Ensure communication channels are in place for your scorecard;
5. Rewarding high performers who rank in the top slots.

1. What Should You Include in Your Automotive Balanced Scorecard? 

Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton developed the balanced scorecard in the 1990s, to give managers a clear view of both non-financial and financial metrics across the business.

For an automotive OEM, what should you include in your scorecard? This depends on the size, structure and complexity of your organisation – one size doesn’t fit all. 

• Financial: revenue growth rate, gross profit margin, operating profit margin, return on investment, cash flow, cost reduction, market share.
• Learning & Growth: employee satisfaction, employee turnover, training and development progress, employee engagement, innovation, knowledge assessment.
• Internal Processes: process cycle time, quality, improvement, resources utilisation, time to market.
• Customer: customer satisfaction, net promoter score, customer retention rate, customer lifetime value, customer acquisition cost, time to resolution.

2. How Should You Structure Balanced Scorecards for Different Departments?

Tailor your balanced scorecards to different departments and sales channels, such as Aftersales, New Sales, Used Sales, and Fleet Sales. We’ve seen a move towards designated scorecards for EV, as they recognise the importance of being able to provide a detailed audit to satisfy government legislation.

One of our customers is splitting their balanced scorecards by dealer group size, reacting to feedback that it was felt that the larger groups had an unfair disadvantage in the leagues. Whatever route you choose, consider whether the results will act as a motivator.

• Once you’ve got the overarching structure, we would recommend a maximum of 10–15 automotive KPIs for each scorecard, to retain focus and aid decision-making.
• Here we can see how a specific retailer site is performing across various scorecards, showcasing their overall points and subsequent ranking in the network. This multi-card approach quickly identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a dealership. This example illustrates that this site is in position 1 for New Car Sales but ranking 149th in Aftersales.
  
  

3. Why Should You Automate & Use AI in Your Automotive Balanced Scorecards?

Manual scorecard management through Excel or similar tools consumes significant resources, from data compilation to PDF conversion and distribution. Automation transforms this process, freeing Market Analysts to focus on strategic initiatives rather than administrative tasks.

Automation delivers several key benefits:

• Provides dealers with consistent, real-time access to performance data;
• Enables faster, more informed decision-making;
• Eliminates human error, building greater trust in the data;
• Reduces network queries through reliable, first-time-right reporting;
• AI creates improvement recommendations through specialised software.

Having specific balanced scorecard software can also drive improvement through AI recommendations. This approach benefits stakeholders across the network:

• Head Office: Can centralise KPIs and gain visibility into performance across all locations.
• Area Manager: Can drill into underperforming sites and provide targeted support.
• Dealership Manager: Receives and completes tasks, benchmarking their performance against other sites.
• Team Member: Can see the impact of completing tasks on the scorecard, making them more accountable for performance improvements.

4. How Can Communication Improve Your Balanced Scorecard Performance?

Another benefit of using balanced scorecard software is automated communications. Loop allows users to customise the frequency of messaging, so that OEMs inform the users about key information, such as when a scorecard is published.

Regardless of where you house your balanced scorecards, communication really is the key, encouraging colleagues to have data-led conversations, leading to data-led decision making. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities mean there’s accountability. The system should be set up so that relevant communications are sent to the right users. By promoting open communications, you’ll witness an increase in sharing ideas and solutions, and progress across the organisation is made at a more rapid rate.

5. How Do Top Automotive Brands Use Balanced Scorecards to Drive Success?

Balanced scorecards quickly identify your high performers so you can reward them. ‘Dealer of the Year’ award events are commonly held annually and often with impressive incentives up for grabs to motivate sites to aim for the top slot. The purpose should also be to identify and support the underperforming sites, using examples of good practice and leading customer service from those that are performing well.


The main takeaway to get the most out of your automotive balanced scorecards and drive network performance is to move away from time-consuming manual processes and use a purpose-built solution that utilises automation.

Implementing best practices in your automotive balanced scorecards can help drive significant improvements across your network and ensure you stay competitive. If you’re ready to transform your performance management, come and discover Loop’s range of practical tools to improve your network's performance, including a balanced scorecard and action planning centre.

We helped Volkswagen Group UK do just this, and their Network Insight Manager, Matt Bishop, told us:

“Loop has given us a 10% improvement in efficiency and performance across the Volkswagen Group UK, time savings, and a more standardised way of working and reporting.”

Still using Excel for your balanced scorecards? Discover the 6 Signs You're Outgrowing Excel from our blog.