8:23 am, June 14, 2021
Sytner boss Darren Edwards thinks the mainstream premium brands would ‘struggle’ allowing dealers to sell their brands under one dealership roof.
The boss of the second most profitable dealer group in the UK – according to the Car Dealer Top 100 – said that while multi franchising works for some of his brands, it wouldn’t for others.
Car dealer bosses have mixed feelings over ‘multi franchising’ which would see multiple brands sold at one site.
Speaking to Car Dealer Live – in a video you can watch above – Edwards said: ‘I think who knows what is going to happen in the future, but if you look at the next year or two I can’t really see the likes of BMW and Mini wanting to partner with another brand outside of their portfolio.
‘If you look at someone like VW Group, clearly that works and we’ve already got dual branding with Ferrari Maserati and we’ve got Bentley Lamborghini and Rolls Royce McLaren, so where it works we’re already operating multi franchising.
‘But for the big three premium brands I think they would struggle with allowing us, but things change and if they do we’ll adapt.
‘It could be good to get more brands under the same roof as it helps to cover the overheads and we’ve seen that with Bentley Lamborghini for instance, but for the mainstream premium brands it could be a struggle for them to cope with that.’
Vertu Motors boss Robert Forrester believes it’s only a matter of time before some of the premium marques come round to the idea of selling their cars alongside rivals in one location.
Other dealers are not quite so sure and think a dedicated location is more important.
During a special Car Dealer Live interview earlier this year Forrester said he was already in talks with some premium brands about coupling them together in one location and that we ‘might surprise ourselves’ with those that agree to do it.
You can watch what he, and Marshall boss Daksh Gupta, thought on the topic in the interview below.
Following that interview, BMW and Volvo both ruled out selling their cars alongside each other in one dealership.
BMW categorically stated it has no plans to change the way it sells its models while Volvo said it will continue with ‘dedicated Volvo retail spaces’ to back up its future online only sales model.
Mercedes refused to comment on ‘speculation’ it might one day sell cars alongside those of its rivals in the same dealership. Jaguar Land Rover and Audi didn’t respond to a request for comment from Car Dealer.
