Car dealers are afraid of it Direct sales. For them, protecting the franchise sales model is of utmost importance. I mean, how else are they supposed to charge for this? Crap you don’t need and try to force you to finance it their bonuses plus car price for 84 months? Cutting out the middleman is such a threat to their bottom line that they’re even worried about how to sell cars that don’t yet exist.
Automotive News reports that Automotive Trade Association executives ran a full-page ad in the April 15 issue Automotive News. The ad calls on both Sony Honda Mobility and VW not to sell the upcoming car He died And Explore Electric vehicles outside the established dealer franchise system.
The ad that Car News says it is supported by franchise associations in all 50 states and 21 smaller metro associations seems like a warning. The group asserts that “state law in most of the country prohibits companies directly or indirectly affiliated with an established manufacturer from selling new vehicles without using dealers.” It even advocates for and threatens the franchise sales model legal action if Sony and VW do not cooperate. “To avoid potential legal challenges across the country and ensure full compliance with applicable laws and regulations, the safest path to sales success is through franchised dealers.”
Dealers and the National Automobile Dealers Association are worried about how the electric vehicles will be sold after what they say are no details for two years about how the sales process will work. However, VW plans to start production of the Scout only in 2026, while Sony’s Afeela EV will start production next year and go on sale in 2026. The traders literally have nothing to worry about.
“After two years of asking and getting nothing, the frustration is very high,” said John Devlin, chairman of the Automotive Trade Association Executives 2024 and CEO of the Pennsylvania Automotive Association.
“If they want to sell the vehicles outright, it’s going to be an incredibly difficult fight,” he said.
Geoffrey Pohanka, chairman of Pohanka Automotive Group in Capitol Heights, Maryland, and 2023 chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said Automotive News earlier this year that if Afeela and Scout bypassed franchised dealers, they would be challenged by state and city trade associations with NADA support.
“Silence speaks,” said Pohanka, whose group includes several Honda and VW stores. “The fact that they have not announced they will go through dealers suggests that this may not be the case.”
Neither Sony nor VW commented on the situation. The only details that even hinted at how VW plans to sell the Scout was a letter was sent to dealers in late 2022 by VW of America sales and marketing manager Andrew Savvas. In it he tells them that Scout is his own brand and that the VW dealers have no influence on the products.