At Gatcombe on Saturday the Land Rover representative told me that from next year the whole structure would change and you would buy direct from JLR.
Does anyone know any more and how it will work with part ex and service. letters not necessarily in the right order

This is the agency model where the dealer gets a set fee for showing the car, doing the handover etc, but does not buy the car from LR and sell it to the customer. The buyer's contract is with LR and there seems also a wish to allow people to buy direct from LR e.g. online, removing at least some business from the dealer network. So the price is the same and no scope for shopping around.

When last I spoke to a dealer they didn't know what would happen about second hand stock. What happens at Tesla (who don't use franchise dealers) is that they have a deal with one of the big second hand sales groups who take any trade-ins. It is not clear who sets the price etc. but maybe this is less of an issue where people are just handing cars back at the end of their lease term rather than selling cars they own outright. I think that agents are intended to continue to operate their workshops, as before.

There are some press articles on how the agency model works, but how it will work for LR dealers does not seem known yet, presumably negotiations continue. I got the impression that the dealers would like to keep the second hand business, as they may make more on buying and selling the second hand stock than on the new sale fees. Only Range Rovers since 1988

I believe they're reducing the number of dealers significantly, there were a few comments made after the Lansdowne special edition in that they were going to move to a direct sales model and this was the shape of things to come.

https://www.am-online.com/news/manufacture...leet-sales

Article isn't just about Fleet sales, don't know what they'll do about servicing or repairs, I've yet to see that covered. Can't see it, but they may go down the same route as warranty as in, as long as they're VAT registered and have the diagnostic equipment/specialist tools to work on the cars, they'll reimburse them and honour the warranty. The SMMT released survey results from their members about how the manufacturers were to deal with and yes you've guessed it, JLR were at the bottom of the pile.

Interesting times ahead, I know the dealers didn't exactly do themselves any favours but there were some good ones out there that did a PDI and caught some hum dingers before they were delivered.

There is also the point that if your car has a major problem and you are minded to reject it if it does not get sorted quickly a dealer who is on the other side of the contract has more of an incentive to sort it than does LR where the customer is just a cipher within their global system (assuming one can get through to them to have the problem address in the first place). Only Range Rovers since 1988

A guy at my dealership was saying their main business will be secondhand sales going forward, the new sales model will wipe out their new sales team leaving just “new car ambassadors” to meet and greet and show you around the new cars. If you want to purchase the conversation is then through Land Rovers new purchase channel. MY23 PHEV HSE
MY19 Disco 5 HSE - gone
My16 Disco 4 HSE LUXURY - gone
My12 Disco 4 HSE - gone
MY05 Disco 3 S - gone but not forgotten

Looks like there are similarities with the way Mobility "operate".

Lotus has gone to this agency model and its not been ideal from a customer perspective. It will only work if they put sufficient resources into the central "customer care" to deal with all of the inevitable ag and since thats a significant cost they probably won't. All those Lotus buyers through the pandemic and since have had no comms at all from the factory about delays, issues, backorders, etc and the "dealers" can't help as they're not involved. Mike - MPx

2017 5.0 V8 Supercharged SVAutobigraphy Dynamic SVO Palette Grey (2021-...)
2012 5.0 V8 Supercharged Autoboigraphy Orkney Grey (2017-2021)
2007 4.2 V8 Supercharged Vogue SE Tonga Green (2012-2017)
2002 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonnatti Grey (2008-2012)

I'm curious about how rejection/buy back would work if you bought it from Land Rover direct, would the car go back to the factory for rectification or would it be offered to the dealer network "as is" as the factory will only have a limited capacity for handling issues.

The dealer will still be doing any rectification works (paid by the manufacturer or supplier as per now) but the rejection will need to be approved by JLR directly.

That will do wonders for dealer morale, not. Seems a high risk strategy for Land Rover.

Mercedes have gone this route this year. They own all the unsold cars so if there is one that meets your spec in the country they can get that car to your dealer for a quick sale. But this only works for cars in stock, not L460's with 2 year waiting list. May work for other models. Another consequence of this model is a reduction in the customisation of the car. On the Mercedes EQE you select trim level and colour. If you want black alloys you have to go for for the AMG Line Premium trim.

Ford electric mustang was also direct order. Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...