Forthcoming Changes To Skodas Dealer Network

[fordfan]

I was reading today in a motor trade magazine that Skoda are going to be making changes to their dealer network. They want a larger market share and an increased share of the fleet market. To this end they want to get the large dealer chains involved with the franchise. They will be implementing new dealer standards, customer service levels and there will be a rebranding with a revised logo.

In my view this means a move away from the traditional family run dealers to a more corporate/profit driven network and all that it entails.

[TKW]

Skoda need to realize they're not Audi.

[xman]

They'll end up like SEAT - a so so brand with a **** poor collection of couldn't care less dealers who have 3 or 4 other low end marques and servicing departments with underpaid teenagers and no skilled mechanics. Doesn't make much sense for VW to compete with itself.

Edited 1 October, 2010 by xman

[Wet Kipper]

given that there's a VAG for just about everyone's needs, from Fox to Bentley, why don't they just have VAG super-dealerships that do all the brands at the same time ?

Edited 1 October, 2010 by Wet Kipper

[CJJE]

This is the way VW went a few years ago. My two very good local family-based dealers lost their franchise and one was replaced by an inpersonal couldn't-care-less conglomorate.

As for super-VAG dealers -- again my local dealers used to have VWs and Audis alongside each otherin the showrooms, which revealed the profit margins on Audis! VAG made the dealers separate their franchises and move the showrooms apart to prevent people comparing a Golf with an Audi A3. Obviously they wouldn't want you comparing them with an Octavia or Leon either!!

With Skoda not being allowed to fit panoramic sunroofs or DAB radio tuners, it looks like they are deliberately being prevented from competing too effectively with VW.

Chris

[Octy09]

This makes me worry about Mitchell Skoda at Cheshire Oaks. I suspect most Mitchell customers will know about this, but the Mitsubishi showroom on the Wirral stopped trading, because Mitsubishi were forcing Mitchell to open on a Sunday. Customers will know that closing on a Sunday is part of what makes Mitchell such a successful business. The Mitsubishi arm was just as successful as Skoda and Mazda are - it had won all kinds of customer service awards (not surprising, really). But Mitsubishi wouldn't take no for an answer, and that was that. I just hope Skoda aren't idiotic enough to try to force policies onto family-run dealerships, like Mitsubishi did to Mitchell.

However, I do look forward to the rebrand of the showrooms. Nothing like keeping a showroom environment fresh.

[ColinD]

I think there are enough... there maybe some gaps, but they are gaps.

Within an hours drive of me I have at least 6 dealers, if I said 2 hours I'd double that easily.

If I drove a ford I might have 20 or 30... I don't see the point of every town having a dealership... surely it weakens the whole, it's competitive enough as it is...

What they should do is return some effort to briskoda and her members.... who I'd say have sold just as many cars

[andy68]

If this went ahead could be good news for some of our sponsors that do servicing and repair work, with the reputation that the large chain dealerships have, would you trust poorly trained chimps to work on your car. I know I wouldn't.

DISCLAIMER: NO OFFENCE MEANT TO CHIMPS

[FellyMagic]

VAG have already destroyed many, many old Skoda dealers who had been with the marque decades, and customer service is now practically non existent in many places. I think it is wrong that a certain group now have a monopoly in part of the country and actually should be looked at by the competition commission.

All in all this is a bad move by VAG, and will send Skoda exactly the same way as Seat. I will not deal with the local chimps and still prefer the old school Skoda dealer that is 20 odd miles away. Thankfully I also have a Skoda specialist near where I live too, which was also a victim of Skoda's stupid demands.

[skodanorman]

Oh dear. Doesn't sound good to me. As has already been said a move away from the smaller customer focused dealers. When we bought our first new Skoda in 1999 we got it from a dealer in Darlington. It was a tiny little affair ran by a small number of keen enthusiasts. In the office where you signed the paperwork were hundreds of pictures of different Skoda's rallying and when we went to collect the car they'd gone to the effort of putting it in the showroom so that my mum could drive her first brand new car right out of the showroom. The car in question was a Felicia L, so the cheapest car they sold. The dealer closed down soon after and was replaced by a new glass fronted anonymous cooperate place. The situation can only worsen if Skoda continue to be dominated by Volkswagen and loose their core values.

I went on a factory tour last Summer. The first part of the tour was a walk around the museum to see some of the legendary cars Skoda have produced and to learn a little about it's proud history. You then moved onto the factory and were shown the engine workshop and the Fabia production line. We shared our tour with a group of crisp-suited Blackberry waving VW cooperate guys. They declined to tour the museum and once inside the factory showed no care of passion for the vehicles, only how much could be produced and for what cost. They didn't even know what engine the 1.2 TSi went in.

I find it hard to accept the changes overcoming "my" marque.

Anyway, I wouldn't have thought the type of dealers affected fleet sales as much as price, reliability and running cost?