February 2019 The largest dealer groups around the world: will more of the big fish swim into European waters?

A regular feature of ICDP’s research is to track the evolution and strategic development of the Top 50 European dealer groups.  These groups are often many times larger than others in the same markets, and on average they have over €2 billion in annual sales with almost 100 outlets each, selling almost 90,000 cars annually.  Yet – despite this undoubted scale – only 20 of the European Top 50 make it into a Global Top 100, only 12 into the Global Top 50.

In an updated Global Top 100 independent dealer group study, we find groups from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia and Russia, as well as the more obvious regions of China and the USA.  These two regions dominate the ranking hosting two thirds of the total.  In part, this is based on the size of their local markets, but an increasing number of groups from the Top 100 operate internationally, with 20% having operations outside of their “domestic” base.

We have looked at the Global Top 100 to see whether they share any common characteristics beyond scale.  Where might those that have expanded outside their home market been able to gain an advantage over their purely domestic rivals?  Are there any indications that others will join this trend, and in particular, will more large non-European players invest here over the next five years?  If so, how will this change the competitive environment within European markets and who are they likely to target?  Will any such investments help in moving the retail environment towards that described in our European Dealer of Tomorrow thinking?

This webinar included data from the Top 100 ranking and some specific dealer group analyses.