8:28 am, October 26, 2026
Car manufacturers need to stop patronising their dealer networks and start listening to retail partners.
That is the verdict of Ineos global head of fleet, Tony Lewis, who had admitted that manufacturers often make incorrect assumptions about dealers’ motives.
A former boss of Westway, Lewis worked on both sides of the manufacturer-retailer divide and says that his time in retail changed his perspective on how manufacturers should handle their franchised networks.
Appearing on the latest episode of the Car Dealer Podcast, Lewis told hosts Jon Reay and James Batchelor that manufacturers need to recognise dealers as businesses in their own right, rather than simply seeing them as partners.
‘Let’s stop patronising dealers,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to listen. These are good businesses run by good people.
‘You’ll always want it your way as the dealer. You’ll want everything. I think sometimes the manufacturers think that that’s all the dealer want. Well, let’s have a compromise in the middle.’
Lewis has worked at Nissan, Stellantis and Ineos, as well as spending time in dealership retail with Jardine and running Nissan-owned Westway.
Speaking on the podcast, he said that his experience in retail has given him a different perspective to a number of other manufacturer execs.
As an example of improved dealer-manufacturer relations, he pointed to Ineos’s approach to its US dealers when changes to tariffs threatened to put pressure on the business.
Lewis said the brand and its retailers had sat down together to work out how to share the financial impact, rather than dealers being expected to absorb the cost alone.
‘I’ve never seen an OEM and a dealer network sit down and go, “Right, how are we going to sort this and share the pain?”’ he said.
‘We’ve had to compromise on margins, on contributions to parts, on marketing and things like that.’
He added: ‘Some of the European brands are very much, “This is our way, this is how we’re going to do it”,’
The latest episode of the Car Dealer Podcast is now available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.