02 September 2019

Retailers holding German premium brand franchises have given their manufacturers a hiding in the latest NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey.

BMW, Audi and Mercedes formed three of the five-fastest fallers in the summer 2019 NFDA survey in the key question ‘How do you rate your manufacturer overall?’ However, it was Hyundai that fell fastest in the latest survey dropping 2.1 points from a score of 6.0 to 3.9 out of 10.

Alongside the expected big fall, BMW is now third from last in the listing after being second from top just four years ago. Alfa Romeo and Abarth were joint last.

Topping the charts for the long-standing ‘How do you rate your manufacturer overall?’ question in the latest NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey were Lexus and Kia in joint first, with Suzuki and Toyota next – even though it suffered a fall of 0.8 points.

The most improved brands were Honda with a rise of 1.1 points to a score of 6.8 and Volvo with a rise of 1.0 to 6.6 points.

Commenting on the results, NFDA director, Sue Robinson said: “It is extremely encouraging to see a record response rate for the NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey Summer 2019, which revealed a minor decline in dealers’ satisfaction levels with the relationship with their manufacturers.”

The combined average of all scores saw a drop of just 0.1 points to 5.8 out of 10 over the January 2019 survey.

“Despite a small decline, dealers remained fairly satisfied with their margins on used car sales demonstrating that this was a key area of focus during the first half of the year. Positively, average satisfaction levels with manufacturers’ alternative fuel vehicle offering continued to increase,” added Mrs Robinson.

“The survey outlined a number of dealers’ concerns, in particular, surrounding current profit return and return on capital for their dealerships. We urge manufacturers to continue to work closely with their dealer networks to address these issues and provide the basis for the automotive industry to thrive despite the external challenges.”

Tags: BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, NFDA dealer attitude survey