The Volkswagen Group wants to establish a new sales model with the switch to electric cars. With the “agency model”, the dealers only act as intermediaries, the customer buys the vehicle directly from the manufacturer. Individual streamers are already being sold in this way. But there is a conflict about the conditions for the sales partners.
According to the, Volkswagen and its German sales partners are arguing Handelsblatt for commissions. More than 800 dealers of the VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat brands would ask for more money to sell their vehicles on behalf of the group. According to the report, traders could not survive in the long term with the previously planned commission models.
Volkswagen declares according to that Handelsblattthat dealers are offered six percent of the list price of an electric car. The German trading partners wanted at least eight percent. “We cannot accept the ideas about the agency business currently prevailing in the group,” said Dirk Weddigen von Knapp, President of the Association of German Volkswagen and Audi Dealers (VAPV) of the business newspaper.
“The group takes the current statements from the partner associations on the ongoing negotiations about the agency model for fully electric vehicles very seriously,” said a group spokesman. The new agency model is essential “to ensure a contemporary and consistent customer experience between the online and offline world”. It offers manufacturers and retailers sustainable future prospects.
The new agency model has so far been introduced in Germany for the VW and Cupra brands. Volkswagen emphasized that the implementation should also be successful for other brands. How this can be achieved is to be negotiated in the coming weeks. According to information from last year, the agency model for electric cars is also to be introduced at Audi, Skoda and VW Commercial Vehicles. In the future, sales will also be organized in countries such as France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Poland, Ireland and Sweden.
The dealers mediate, the manufacturer sells
This is how the agency model works at VW: If a dealer successfully sells an electric car to a customer, the car dealership receives a commission. In concrete terms, this means in sales that the dealers take care of the acquisition, advice, carrying out test drives, processing of the transaction and delivery of the ID. models in coordination with Volkswagen. Customers conclude the contract for purchase or leasing directly with the manufacturer.
If the vehicle is purchased on the Volkswagen website, a preferred dealer, who is specified at the beginning of the sales process, receives a commission and bonus in the same way as in stationary business. According to Volkswagen, this means that dealers can plan their remuneration regardless of whether the e-car is purchased in a dealership or online. For the company, price stability is in the foreground, and they also want to reduce fears and uncertainties in trading related to e-mobility, it said in 2021. The trade is also taking the inventory risk away.
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