Disagreements between car manufacturers and franchised sales outlets are nothing new. However Mercedes Benz Australia has taken it to new levels with a fight ongoing in the courts. This is set to shake up the way cars are sold in Australia for years to come.
It all started when Mercedes-Benz decided it wanted to move to a fixed sale price/commission payment model and the dealers didn’t like that.
Thirty-eight of the nation’s 55 Mercedes-Benz dealerships have launched legal action against the company in the Federal Court seeking compensation.
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There are previous examples of discontent with Holden and Honda both having issues of late.
The question is do manufacturers have disproportionate power over the businesses that sell their cars and use that unconscionable power.
Other manufacturers are also looking at this model. I’m guessing they will be waiting until the outcome of the MB case is known.
This comes on top of the MB emissions scandal in 2021 in Europe. So it hasn’t been a happy time for the manufacturer.
As of the end of July MB offered some 30 different models in Australia. They had a touch over 3% market share with just under 20,000 cars, SUVs and vans sold to the end of July.
This is a Motoring Minute
Im Rob Fraser
Some other articles from the general press about the court case.
https://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-advice/franchising/franchising-cases-mercedes-benz-dealers/
https://www.afr.com/technology/mercedes-benz-trial-kicks-off-with-a-bang-20220802-p5b6ki
https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/newsroom/mercedes-emissions-timeline/
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