22 January 2025

Volkswagen Group has confirmed it is to return to the franchised sales model for electric vehicles from VW, VW Commercial Vehicles, Audi and Skoda following a review of the agency plans exclusively revealed by Auto Retail Agenda late last year.

Under the return to a wholesale model, Skoda will be the first of the group’s brands to switch back to franchised agreements for EVs on 20 February, followed by VW, Audi and VW CVs will at the start of April.

A Volkswagen Group spokesperson said: “Following discussions with Brand Investor Councils from Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi and Skoda in the UK, we have reached a decision and issued a notification to our retailer partners today. This states our intention to pause ‘Direct to Customer’ retail BEV sales for the short- to medium-term, and return to the wholesale model.”

The spokesperson added that Cupra, along with group fleet sales, would continue with the agency model and “full agency for all vehicles and drivetrains will be established in the Swedish and Irish markets”.

The move by VW Group follows Stellantis, Ford and JLR which have also backed away from direct sales models in the past year. Lotus and Polestar have also moved away from direct sales models.

When VW announced its review in November 2024, the OEM blamed a slower than expected uptake of EVs and the complexity of selling EVs under agency in parallel with ICE vehicles under a franchised model.

A spokesperson said: “Due to the slower transition to electric mobility across the industry, two sales models for private customers would need to be operated in parallel longer than originally anticipated: The agency model for all-electric vehicles and the indirect sales model for vehicles with other drivetrains. Maintaining this high level of complexity for an extended period of time would be a key challenge for the sales organisation. Therefore, a joint review process with the wholesale and retail organisations will start immediately to determine whether returning to an indirect sales model for BEVs might be a favourable alternative for the short- to mid-term.”

The group had been rolling out non-genuine agency agreements for its electric cars brand-by-brand over the past few years. VW first m00ted the move to agency in 2020 around the launch of the ID3, a story exclusively revealed by Auto Retail Agenda. However, it was Cupra that went first in 2021.

Tags: agency, Audi, direct sales, Skoda, Volkswagen Group, VW