The increasingly popular agency sales model – whereby the car maker sells directly to the customer with the dealer acting as their agent – is facing its first big test as new-car supply returns and demand dips.
Manufacturers that sell directly to customers – including Mercedes-Benz, Cupra, Tesla, Polestar and Volvo – are now offering some of the biggest visible incentives to buyers as they try to boost sales, data from What Car? shows.
Car makers are moving away from the wholesales model – whereby they sell cars to dealers who then sell them to customers – for the purpose of keeping a tighter control on costs, establishing direct contact with customers and keeping more of the money generated from selling the car.
That worked well when cars were difficult to get hold of during the recent post-Covid supply-chain shortages, but as the market becomes more competitive, the car makers have to replicate the same tricks used by the dealers to stimulate demand but without going back to the old system.
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