Latest Dealer Attitude survey shows ‘degree of optimism’

The most recent edition of the National Franchised Dealers Association Dealer Attitude Survey has been published, with dealers showing more optimism about profit returns. “It is positive to see that when evaluating their satisfaction with profit return, the majority of dealers gave a response which was higher than the neutral score of 5.0. However, the average score for both current and future profit return has decreased again compared with the last survey,” said Sue Robinson, director of the NFDA, commenting on the results.

Dealers were asked ‘how satisfied are you with your current profit return by representing your franchise?’ This returned an average score of 5.4 points.

• The average score decreased by 0.1 points since summer 2016, but was unchanged from the same period last year.
• Mercedes saw the highest score with 9.6 points, 0.5 more than in summer, Kia and Suzuki followed with 8.7 and 7.7 points respectively.
• Alfa Romeo (2.8), Citroen (2.9) and Mitsubishi (2.9) sat at the bottom of the table.
• Peugeot saw the biggest improvement with an increase of +1.9 points.
• Jeep, -1.8, experienced the greatest decrease.

When looking at dealers’ degree of satisfaction with their ‘future profit return’, the situation remains very similar.

• The average score was 5.6, 0.3 points down on the summer’s survey.
• Mercedes had the highest score with 9.1 points, an increase of 0.1 on last summer. Kia held again the second place with 8.8 points and an improvement of 0.2, Lexus followed with 8.1 points.
• Citroen was the lowest scoring franchise with 3.2 points, a further decline of 0.3. Volkswagen (3.5) and Nissan (3.6) also were at the bottom of the table.
• Seat and Skoda saw the strongest increase by +1.1 points, while Nissan (-1.9) had the biggest loss in scores.

Robinson concluded, “It is interesting to see that, on average, dealers seem to be more positive about their future profit return than their current one, showing a certain degree of optimism.

“Questions about profit return have seen a steadily decreasing trend over the past years. To maintain a healthy and strong working relationship with their manufacturers, it is vital that dealers continue to clearly see the profitability of their businesses.”