Affected by the global epidemic, this international round table was held by video. Industry leaders from China, the European Union, the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Italy and other countries and regions extended greetings and blessings to the success of the conference through video, focusing on the new model of automobile sales and injecting international vision into the development of the industry.
202 1 China Automobile Distribution Industry Annual Meeting International Roundtable
Industry leaders all over the world are discussing a new sales model: fairness to dealers.
Dealers, as an indispensable part of the development of automobile industry, have been playing an extremely important role both in China and in the world. In recent years, with the continuous emergence and rapid development of new sales models such as direct selling and agency, the traditional dealer system has been impacted. The new car sales model has also become a hot topic in the world.
"In Australia, OEMs have been trying different sales models with limited success," James Voortman, CEO of the Australian Automobile Dealers Association, said at the international conference of the conference. In order to improve their own profit margins, promote digital platform transactions and establish direct contact with customers, OEMs are constantly trying new sales models.
CEO of Australian Automobile Dealers Association? James wortmann.
Honda took the lead in trying a new sales model transformation in the Australian market, which not only failed to promote the recovery of sales, but led to a continuous decline in performance.
In addition, the change of the sales model of the main engine factory will lead to the decrease of the return on investment of the dealers, and it will not be possible to recover the investment in personnel, venues and so on, which will seriously damage the interests of the dealers, but there is usually no corresponding compensation policy. In this regard, Mr. wortmann said, "Because dealers have invested heavily in promoting products and establishing customer networks in the early stage, they should be fairly compensated after changing the sales model."
Kazuo Kato, president of Japan Automobile Dealers Association, also expressed concern about the challenges faced by dealers under the new sales model. "In Japan, it is also a new trend for manufacturers to start selling new cars online. In addition to the functions of test ride and supply in future sales, other functions of (dealers) will gradually decrease, and the initiative to obtain customer information will also be transferred to manufacturers. " In addition, he also mentioned that "once OTA (over-the-air download technology) is popularized in the future, the income of the daily maintenance industry will decrease, and the opportunities for dealers to communicate with customers will also decrease".
President of Japan Automobile Dealers Association? Kazuo Kato
In fact, not only in Australia and Japan, but also with the reform of the automobile industry, the new automobile sales model has attracted strong attention in many countries around the world, and major OEMs have begun to explore their own new sales model.
Call for legislation and government intervention to establish an equal relationship between manufacturers and distributors under the new sales model.
In the history of dealer system, car dealers and manufacturers have been in the same boat for many years. With the development of new sales model, the subtle relationship between manufacturers and distributors began to change quietly, and the relationship of mutual benefit and equality seems to be no longer stable. At this international conference, Francis Bacelo, President of the French Automobile Dealers Association (FADA)? ) keenly aware of this change and make a speech on it. He is worried about the increasingly unbalanced relationship between dealers and manufacturers, and thinks that the unequal contractual relationship between the OEM and its sales network is increasing, as exemplified by the punishment imposed on Peugeot by the Austrian anti-monopoly court.
President of the French Automobile Dealers Association? Francis Bacelo (Francis Bacelo? )
In February, 2020, the Austrian anti-monopoly court punished Peugeot, forbidding Peugeot to reduce the reasonable rebate of dealers in disguise by setting unattainable sales targets. Austrian courts especially condemned this contract structure which caused most traders' profits to rely heavily on unequal and opaque conditions, and considered that this structure had constituted an abuse of economic dependence.
In addition, Mr. Bacelo M also said that the French Automobile Dealers Association is also proposing to the European Commission to provide reciprocal conditions for business development through legislation, limit the direct selling behavior of OEMs that does not meet the principle of reasonable competition, clarify the legal framework for authorizing the collection of user data, eliminate the differences between OEMs and dealers on customer data issues, and re-examine the standards that OEMs have long required dealers to invest heavily.
Luca Montagner, president of Quintegia, also brought an Italian perspective. They believe that the new sales model "can only be effective if the automobile output is lower than the customer's demand, and can't guarantee the current service penetration rate to customers", and said that clear instructions and clear time are needed to analyze and build a new system in depth.
President Kim Taegia of Italy? Luca montana (Luca)
Many international associations, including France and Germany, also believe that we should attach importance to the important role of distributors, protect their reasonable rights and interests with the help of legislation or government forces, and ensure the equal relationship between manufacturers and distributors under the new sales model, so as to better play the role of distributors as participants in local consumption system, professional knowledge system, regional development and environmental transformation in regional economic development.
In the future, the sales model will be diversified, and the authorized dealer model will still play a significant role.
With the continuous impact of the global epidemic, coupled with the emergence of unfavorable factors such as double carbon, lack of core and tight supply chain, the development of the automobile industry can be described as constant challenges. It is undoubtedly the dealers who are in the front line of the automobile circulation industry chain who face the challenge directly and bear the greatest pressure. However, with the increasing diversification of sales models, the new sales models to be implemented by major manufacturers conflict with the reasonable rights and interests of existing distributors to some extent.
In this regard, Paul walser, the rotating president of American Automobile Dealers Association, brought his views. As an American market that still maintains a good industry development trend in the face of many challenges, Mr. walser believes that the dealer system has made great contributions, although there have been many obstacles and difficulties that threaten the development of the industry this year, such as insufficient supply, reduced or even interrupted production capacity of the main engine plant, shortage of dealer inventory, and continuous improvement of American safety and health regulations. But "in the face of all this, our 65,438+06,500 dealers in the United States can still maintain the safety and stability of customer transactions and employees' work." He is proud of those dealers who have shown great resilience under many development obstacles and difficulties.
Chairman of the American Automobile Dealers Association? Paul walser.
"Our franchise model has stood the test of 100 years. In the depression years, in the controversial period of the franchise system, and during the global COVID-19 epidemic that we never anticipated, this business model still maintained a strong development momentum. " .
He stressed that the American Automobile Dealers Association is more willing to strengthen its support for the franchise system than ever before. I believe that American distributors will be stronger than before after all the turmoil and changes.
"Only by uniting can we move forward hand in hand."
The new sales model is not the first time in recent years. In fact, in some countries, the new sales model has always existed and worked normally, such as Germany. Antje Woltermann, executive director of the German Automobile Dealers Association, said that the problem is not the dealer model or the agent model, but the specific terms of these sales systems. Original equipment manufacturers often try to change the details of the terms, putting dealers at a disadvantage. This requires the help of relevant regulatory authorities and the European Commission, as well as industry exchanges between countries. Ms. An Jie appealed in the sharing, "Only by uniting can we advance hand in hand!" .
Antje Woltermann, executive director of the German Automobile Dealers Association, said,
Jean-Charles Herrenschmidt, Chairman of the European Automobile Trade and Service Commission, also said that without communication and contact, it would be difficult to cope with changes and challenges. I believe that if we can accept the unknown changes, listen to other people's different views and opinions, and are willing to share them, then we will be omnipotent and invincible.
Chairman of the European Commission for Automobile Trade and Services? Jean-Charles Heron Schmidt
China automobile dealers association: Actively participate in the discussion and strive for a fair victory.
As early as September this year, at the first EU International Automobile Circulation Forum, the new model of automobile sales was a key topic, which triggered a heated discussion among the participants. Mr. Shen Jinjun, President of china automobile dealers association, also delivered an important speech.
President china automobile dealers association? Shen jinjun
Shen Jinjun pointed out that in the next five years, dealers will face great changes in the business environment and business model, some of which are even fundamental and subversive, and the direct selling model is the most critical among many changes. "In China, the" Measures for the Administration of Automobile Sales "clearly stipulates that manufacturers of existing dealer networks must negotiate with dealers and reach an agreement before they can directly sell vehicles to consumers."
At the annual meeting in Haikou, Song Yingjie, the second inspector of the Consumer Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said: From the perspective of automobile circulation mode, authorized sales are still the main channel for automobile sales, and unauthorized sales such as automobile e-commerce and direct sales are also developing constantly, which undoubtedly has a positive impact, which promotes competition in the automobile market and improves the efficiency of automobile circulation; "At the same time, we are also very concerned about other impacts caused by changes in vehicle models. We hope that model innovation can bring a sense of * * to all participants in the automobile market as much as possible and make the relationship between manufacturers more harmonious. All parties should strictly abide by the "Measures for the Administration of Automobile Sales" and other laws and regulations to prevent any party from unreasonably using its dominant position and harming the interests of other stakeholders. "
At this meeting, President Shen Jinjun reiterated his emphasis on the new sales model. He said: china automobile dealers association has always kept an open attitude to the discussion of business models, and actively explored sustainable development models that are beneficial to consumers, distributors, manufacturers and other subjects.
The association will actively and enthusiastically participate in the international and domestic discussions on the new sales model. Under the trend of diversified sales models, manufacturers should adhere to the principle of honesty and fairness, negotiate with all dealers in a sincere and open manner, and fully communicate. The association opposes any behavior that ignores the interests of the partners and only considers the maximization of one party's own interests.
In the face of global industry changes and market challenges, the international part of the conference provided a high-quality platform for countries to exchange industry experience, and the in-depth discussion of the new model of automobile sales by representatives of various countries attracted the unanimous attention and praise of the guests and members attending the conference. In the future, china automobile dealers association will continue to uphold the development concept, practice its industry responsibilities, face challenges together with its global partners in the same industry, and go all out for the development of the automobile industry under the new pattern, new opportunities and new challenges.