May 2026 Webinar: Wholly-owned national sales company or independent importer - is the choice changing?

This webinar was held on 12th May 2026.

One of the first decisions facing a brand when planning entry into an export market is what kind of import and distribution arrangement to use, and how to balance a need for control and consistency of approach against on-the-ground experience and willingness to shoulder risk.  In the automotive sector, the traditional path (although there are some very notable exceptions) has been for brands to kick off by using an independent importer, before switching to a wholly-owned national sales company once the market is sufficiently developed.​

However, this is far from a universal rule of thumb, and in recent years, a number of developments have served to complicate the picture.  The European market is now crowded with new entrant brands, all looking for a distribution approach that will give them the best start possible.  Some of the incumbent OEMs have rethought their 'NSCs everywhere' strategies, and have passed markets back into independent importer hands.  A number of the large independent importer/distributor businesses have continued to internationalise, and in some cases now partner with the same OEMs across multiple continents.  And a selection of Europe's largest dealer groups have moved to add import/distribution franchises to their portfolio, and now work with a range of different OEM brands.​

This webinar kicked off our latest research in this area, we explored these developments across Europe, and we started to examine the range of factors that now drive the choice for an OEM between a wholly-owned NSC and an independent importer. 

The presentation shown can be downloaded below (speaking notes to follow) plus a video recording.