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Carmakers are pulling the plug on their factory owned dealer groups even as they push forward with the Agency model.
He ICDP: European Top 50 Dealer Groups 2022 found that Mercedes-Benz and Renault have jettisoned outlets over the past 18 months.
“Amongst the OEM-owned dealer groups, the general trend is for them to reduce their own retail networks, even whilst they seek to become more involved in retail through agency.
“We identified 39 points sold by Mercedes-Benz in 10 deals between January 2022 and September 2023, and Renault Retail disposing of 58 points in 10 over the same period,” said report authors Steve Young and Peter Bailey.
But the traffic now all one way with German carmakers Volkswagen and Porsche investing in their networks.
“VW Group/Porsche Holding are still investing in their wholly owned dealer group retailers, adding a net seven franchise points in 2022.
“Porsche Holdings, run independently of, but wholly owned by VW Group had 2022 revenues of over €25bn, far greater than our Top 50 independent group leader, Emil Frey.
“The seven brands with significant networks under their own ownership (directly or indirectly) captured over 10% of the European market in 2022, operating a total of 1,594 franchise points.
“Four of the OEM-owned groups had revenues in 2022 which were higher than that of Lookers, ranked #4 in the Top 50,” they said.