09 October 2023

A sharp drop in the latest NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey results has seen the overall relationship between retailers and their manufacturer partners decline back to pre-pandemic levels.

Agency agreements, a fall in profitability due to returning supply and network restructuring all appeared to have impacted the results to the main ‘How do you rate your manufacturer overall?’ question. The average score dropped to 5.8 in this month’s survey from 6.5 out of 10 six months ago. The last time the average score was this low was in 2019, and had been around that figure for the preceding three years.

Since 2020 and the pandemic, retailers and manufacturers had been working together to overcome mutual difficulties. The past three years have also seen record profitability for retails due to the pandemic-induced supply constraints.

Commenting on the results, NFDA chief executive, Sue Robinsons said: “With the dynamic landscape of the automotive industry constantly evolving, it is now more important than ever to listen to the attitudes of dealers, serving as the compass that guides us towards a future sector of innovation, collaboration, and mutual success.”

Coming top in the overall rating question was Kia with a score of 9.5, up 0.2 points on the previous survey. Lexus was second at 9.2 and Mini third with 9.0.

At the bottom of the survey, the Stellantis brands occupied eight of the last nine places, only broken up by Jaguar with a score of 3.0. DS, the worst performing brand of all time, scored a lowly 1.5. Alfa Romeo holds the lowest score ever of 1.4 set in 2017.

DS was also the largest faller, dropping 2.5 points.

Ford and Alfa Romeo were equal second largest fallers with a drop of 2.0 points with Mercedes and Jeep taking the third largest fall, down 1.7 points.

Mercedes’ introduction of agency agreements has significantly impacted retailers’ profitability and relationship with the brand. Under the question covering current profitability, Mercedes dropped 2.2 points. Auto Retail Agenda also understands the current network average return on sales figure for the brand is 1.2%, down from 3.5% last year. A year ago, Mercedes was the second highest scoring brand in the NFDA survey, in today’s Dealer Attitude Survey they’re 13^th.

Toyota, once one of the highest scoring brands, also saw a significant fall and now sits in 11^th place, down from the top three, two years ago. Network restructuring and a lack of electric vehicles are thought to have impacted the OEM’s score.

For a full analysis, see sister publication Auto Retail Bulletin, out later this week.

* The NFDA is now using new methodology for its averages. These are weighted using the number of retailers that answer the survey and show an overall average of 6.3.

Tags: NFDA dealer attitude survey