Mercedes-Benz Australia agents have hit a brick wall in their bid to the head office in Mulgrave, Victoria, asking it to engage with the national dealer council (NDC) or agents council (DAC) in order to address unresolved agency transition issues, according to a report by Go Auto News.
The Mercedes-Benz agents via their NDC/DAC said the council was concerned that Mercedes-Benz Australia was not responding to its correspondence outlining ongoing concerns arising from the transition to the agency sales model by the German car importer, adds Go Auto News.
Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific chief executive and managing director of Mercedes-Benz Cars Florian Seidler told the head of the NDC/DAC Tony Jennett in a letter to the Mercedes dealer council the agents were welcome to operate their own councils, but Mercedes-Benz would not have anything to do with them.
Instead, Seidler said the company would engage with dealers on a one-on-one basis, says Go Auto News.
Seidler has earlier featured in AutoTalk Australia.
“This is disappointing,” says the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) on social media, adding that not recognising a dealer council is “bad for business”.
The AADA says dealer councils have been proven to foster good productive relationships between dealers and OEMs.
“The best performing brands in the Australian automotive industry have the benefit of dealer councils,” it adds.
“With a new distribution model such as an agency it is even more important that OEMs work closely with dealer councils so they can tap into the many years of retail experience they have at their disposal.”
In response to the post, Pitcher Partners consultant Wayne Pearson says dealers “need to really start seeing the brands as their supplier of product to their customers”.
“Rather than unify around a single supplier (like a brand dealer council), dealers should unify around the business model and operate as a buying group from the brands that fit their model,” Pearson explains.
“Setting up for example the German sourced vehicle dealer council and using the buying power, customer base and geography say of 1000 rooftops to source customers cars makes more sense.
“That dealer council can then source supply from the suppliers that give the best outcome for the council and their customer,” says Pearson.
“I strongly believe that brands that embrace the dealer model in its traditional form will have significant market share growth, particularly if they do good deals with strong dealer council buying groups.”
Go Auto News adds that Mercedes-Benz Australia “elected not to comment on this article”.
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