In just ten years’ time, 67% of the vehicles sold in Spain will be used for subscription mobility services, according to Ganvam’s report “The MADE impact on sales and after-sales”, which describes how the four main macro trends (Mobility, Automation, Digitisation and Electrification) will transform the current vehicle sale and repair model, with the aim of accelerating the conversion of a strategic industry for the economy.

Ganvam explained that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in which, as has already happened in other industries such as audiovisual content, the discontent with digital consumer ownership and its growing interest in pay-per-use are transforming the role of distribution networks. In this sense, in less than a decade, the private buyer channel, which currently contributes the highest profit margin to dealers, will barely account for 25% of registrations, further weakening the position of the distributor, which has already been crippled by the unbalanced relationship with the brand in the absence of a regulatory framework to protect it.

In this context where the ever-growing importance of the online channel and the trend towards direct sales from manufacturers have already led the main automotive groups to reformulate the relationship with their networks, Ganvam is promoting a sectoral reconversion that compensates for disintermediation, focusing on the additional services associated with mobility. Bearing in mind that mobility platforms have a completely digital base that allows them to operate from anywhere, Ganvam warned of the risk of this trend leading to a distribution model that fails to provide wealth or value in our market, thereby compromising the continuity of SMEs in the sale and repair of vehicles. As a result, its strategy advocates the development of a plan aimed at allowing distributors to become providers of subscription mobility services associated with connectivity as a way to compensate for the loss of business connected to disintermediation.

Ganvam is part of the European project Gaia-X Spain, under which Spain will lead the European data economy. The initiative sets out to accelerate Europe’s capacity for data sharing and digital sovereignty.

The idea is to give Europe more digital autonomy in terms of computing and cloud storage, as the cloud market in Europe is now clearly dominated by US and Chinese providers.

Gaia-X Spain, which aims to create an open data infrastructure, is part of the Digital Spain Agenda promoted by the Spanish government. The cornerstone of the initiative is to shift towards a data economy, leveraging the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence and big data so that at least 25% of companies use these technologies in 2025.

“There’s no optimal model of car distribution”, announced Paco Pérez Botello, Chairman of Volkswagen Group Spain Distribution, at the round table held in Madrid last February as part of the Expo Ganvam congress, at which dealers and manufacturers discussed the imminent change of the European competition regulation (330/2010).

One of the main concerns for Jaime Barea, Legal and Corporate Director at Ganvam, is that “dealers are losing prominence. The current formulas are very complex and the profit margin is insufficient for the distributors, with the Spanish average standing at 1% in 2021, but nothing is stopping parameters beyond the control of dealers from being laid down in the future“.

Volkswagen Group has considered selling its electric models exclusively through the agency model from 2023 onwards. For Pérez Botello, “this is the only way for us to meet our goals and set a framework that allows distributors to see positive results”.

One of the friction points that Ganvam is working on in Europe, in view of the reform of Regulation 330/2010, is to set a market share to limit direct sales to manufacturers. “For the first time, the Commission is aware of limiting this”, said Barea.