NFDA Winter 2017 Dealer Attitude Survey shows little change

The National Franchised Dealers Association Winter 2017 survey had 1,704 respondents from a total of 29 participating franchise networks, which equates to a response rate of 41 per cent. The all-important question asking dealers ‘how would they rate their manufacturers overall’, saw a slight decline compared with last summer’s survey (6.1 vs 6.2), but it stands at the same level as the winter 2016 survey.

“The overall relationship between franchised car dealers and manufacturers recorded an average score of 6.1 in winter 2017, which is unchanged from the same time last year, but 0.1 lower than in the summer 2016 survey”, said Sue Robinson, director of the NFDA commenting on the newly-published NFDA Winter 2017 Dealer Attitude Survey.

Some highlights from the survey are:

• Mercedes was once again the highest scoring franchise with a score of 9.6. This has grown again by 0.1 points compared to the summer and it is 0.3 points higher than in the same period last year.
• Kia has consolidated its second position with a further improvement of 0.1 points to a total of 9.3.
• Lexus is the third placed franchise with a total of 9.0 points, which is unchanged from last summer.
• Suzuki and BMW close out the top five with 8.6 and 8.2 points respectively.
• The least valued franchises by respondents are Citroen (3.8), Mitsubishi (3.9), Volkswagen (3.9) and Nissan (4.0). Apart from Citroen, which saw its score improving by 0.2 points, the other three have experienced significant declines.

Robinson continued, “A number of manufacturers have clearly taken into consideration previous negative scores and now improved their position, showing that strengthening the dealer-manufacturer relationship requires effort, but is achievable.

“Dealer networks such as Mercedes and Kia have consistently performed well over the last few years, but it is also positive to see that other networks, such as Peugeot and Mazda, have shown enormous increases in score within the survey.

“However, average scores across the majority of the questions have generally worsened. In such a critical period, it is fundamental that manufacturers and dealers continue to constructively work together towards the same ultimate objective which is ensuring that the automotive industry is well represented at all levels and continues to thrive.”