“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.