🚘 Automotive Distribution: the Silent Revolution that Will Disrupt Everything
European automotive distribution is going through a pivotal period. Beneath the apparent slowness of changes, a true reconfiguration of economic and relational models is underway. Declining sales, technological transformation, rising customer expectations, new global competition: everything contributes to a structural revolution. It is no longer about adapting. It is about reinventing oneself.
🔥 a Multifactorial Crisis that Endures… and Worsens
Since 2019, the European new vehicle market has lost more than 20% in volume. However, this decline conceals a deeper transformation with multiple causes:
- The price of new vehicles has exploded: +70% in 15 years. In parallel, median purchasing power has remained almost stable. As a result, cars are once again becoming a luxury good, inaccessible to a growing portion of the population.
- Environmental regulations (ZFE, Green Pact, ban on internal combustion engine sales in 2035) impose constraints that reshape demand.
- The disaffection of younger generations for individual cars, in favor of collective or hybrid uses, weakens the symbolic attractiveness of the automobile.
- Finally, Chinese manufacturers are disrupting the balance: competitive electric vehicles, state subsidies, advanced battery technologies, control of critical resources.
This cocktail of factors creates a formidable scissor effect for historical players. And it heralds an era where traditional models are condemned to transform or disappear.
🧱 a Distribution Model to be Completely Rethought
The historical structure of the automotive distribution sector was based on single-brand dealerships, closely tied to manufacturers. This model is coming to an end.
- The agency model, where distributors become mere commission-based representatives, appeals to certain manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz. Objective: to control prices, regain control over customer data, and standardize the experience. However, this significantly reduces distributors’ room for maneuver.
- The multi-brand approach is exploding: groups now integrate several brands, including competitors, sometimes within the same showroom. This helps cushion volume declines and capture a wider customer base.
- Finally, sector consolidation is accelerating. Large regional hubs are forming, driven by groups with significantly superior investment and negotiation capabilities.
Tomorrow, the automotive distributor will resemble more a multi-brand, integrated, data-driven operator than a single-brand vehicle salesperson.
📉 New Vehicles: a Cost Center in Transition
The sale of new vehicles, once the lifeblood of the business, is now under pressure.
- Reduced margins, exacerbated competition, limited purchasing power: new vehicles are losing profitability.
- Electrification increases vehicle costs, without guaranteeing stable residual value.
- Financing tools are lagging behind market expectations: lacking fluidity, complex processes.
Furthermore, the transition to electric vehicles poses new challenges:
- Charging network still insufficient,
- Negative perception of maintenance costs,
- Low product knowledge among sales forces.
This situation makes new vehicles a loss leader, rather than a growth driver.
🧩 Used Vehicles: the Strategic Gem
It is the big winner of this transformation: used vehicles are becoming the backbone of profitability for distribution groups. But only if all its dimensions are mastered:
- Sourcing: capturing recent vehicles (6-12 years old), dominating C-to-C channels.
- Reconditioning: having industrial workshops capable of restoring used vehicles at an optimized cost.
- Omnichannel Distribution: offering a seamless journey, from web to showroom, with associated services (delivery, warranty, after-sales service).
- Agile Financing: used vehicle leasing, simplified credit, fractional payment… The “3-click” model must become the norm.
Ultimately, the resale of reconditioned used vehicles could represent up to 60% of the operating margin for the most mature networks.
📱 AI, Data, Digital: the Fuel for Future Performance
The digital revolution is no longer an option: it is vital.
- Digitalization of the Customer Journey: from the initial search to delivery, digital must be present at every stage, including after-sales.
- Automation: repetitive tasks must be delegated to tools (CRM, pricing, logistics).
- Data Utilization: behavioral segmentation, predictive maintenance, personalized offers, pricing dynamics… Data becomes a strategic asset.
- System Interoperability: the ability to integrate manufacturer IT systems, marketing automation tools, and e-commerce platforms is a key success factor.
Distributors who can capitalize on these levers will have a decisive advantage. The partnership between Stellantis and Mistral AI shows the way.
🧠 Customer Experience: the Next Growth Driver
In a world where products are becoming commoditized, experience becomes a differentiator. However, the automotive industry is lagging in this area.
Tomorrow’s customer will no longer just buy a car, but an experience, a service, a relationship.
This implies:
- Showrooms redesigned as living spaces,
- Salespeople trained in relationship building, active listening, and support,
- A logic of fluid and seamless journey, from configuration to vehicle trade-in,
- A precise measurement of satisfaction, based on objective indicators: waiting time, offer relevance, personalization.
Tesla understood this: by eliminating friction and making the purchasing process simple and intuitive, they redefined industry standards.
🌍 CSR, HR, Human Value: the Pillars of the New Social Contract
Two major undertakings are structuring tomorrow’s distribution:
- Environmental impact: waste reduction, eco-responsible buildings, battery management, recycling… Sustainability becomes both a requirement and an image lever.
- The war for talent: faced with the increasing complexity of vehicles, digitalization, and customer expectations, it is necessary to recruit, train, and retain versatile, tech-savvy, service-oriented employees.
Revalorizing distribution professions, giving them meaning, restoring a sense of belonging: these will be the HR challenges of the coming years.
👉 Reinventing Distribution to Create Value
We are not experiencing a simple evolution, but a paradigm shift. The groups that succeed will be those that have integrated:
- That the traditional model is obsolete;
- That data is the new black gold of the sector;
- That experience takes precedence over product;
- That revenue hybridization (new vehicles, used vehicles, services, financing) is the only path to sustainable profitability;
- That AI, robotization, predictive analytics are not mere gadgets but pillars of performance.
Automotive distribution is at a turning point. Those who make the turn will not have merely survived. They will have seized power.
