Executive Briefings
ICDP’s Executive Briefings - high-level summaries of our insights on the full range of programme topics - are available for all to read and download. If you make use of them in your own material, please remember to attribute ICDP as the source.
Executive Briefings from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017 are also available to download.
No customers demand agency
EB 02/24 Steve Young
For the last year or so, the topic of agency has been continuously in the trade media, featured in almost every automotive conference and been a significant part of most discussions that ICDP has with our members, both manufacturers and dealers. There has been a concern on the part of manufacturers that they may be missing out (regardless of whether they are actively implementing agency, or denying that it forms part of their future strategy). Dealers are concerned that at some point it will have a detrimental effect on their business, in the worst case scenario, one that threatens their very existence.
What can be done with legacy investments?
EB 01/24 Steve Young
The growth in scale and quality of finish of dealer property over the last couple decades is obvious to everyone, but we now face a crunch point as there is now a new focus from the manufacturers on reducing cost of distribution. Much of this cost is actually in the form of different types of pricing support, but the cost of building and operating dealerships has to be covered from within the dealer margin, and that is being squeezed by manufacturers whether they retain franchise contracts or move to agency agreements.