Toyota cancells contracts with all ~500 dealers in Germany

[Galaxy]

 

Toyota has today terminated the contract with all of their dealerships in Germany effective May 31, 2016. They want to completely reboot their sales strategy for Germany.

Wow.

[Cookie Monster]

Wow that seems drastic.

[Madman]

Was Toyota doing so badly in Germany they had to give ALL their dealers the heave-ho?

This is probably not a good time to be a German Toyota owner, especially if your car is still in warranty.

[mzziaz]

They probably want to own the dealerships themselves.

[2o6]

Secondly, there are 500 Toyota dealers in Germany? Are dealerships in Europe drastically smaller or something? Ohio is about the same size physically as Germany and we've got maybe 50 Toyota dealers for the entire state...

[Rich]

Ohio is about the same size physically as Germany ...

Geography, need some, you do.

[Galaxy]

Secondly, there are 500 Toyota dealers in Germany? Are dealerships in Europe drastically smaller or something? Ohio is about the same size physically as Germany and we've got maybe 50 Toyota dealers for the entire state...

Ohio has 11 Million people, Germany over 80 Million. But yes one of the problems was that there were simply to many.

[Galaxy]

This is probably not a good time to be a German Toyota owner, especially if your car is still in warranty.

I would assume they will have new dealers in place by next year.

[Soup DeVille]

Secondly, there are 500 Toyota dealers in Germany? Are dealerships in Europe drastically smaller or something? Ohio is about the same size physically as Germany and we've got maybe 50 Toyota dealers for the entire state...

More like Montana, but its a little over half the size of Texas if that makes you feel better.

[cawimmer430]

Well there goes my dream of trading in the 1er for a Prius! 

[Payman]

Are dealerships protected by law like in many US States? I wonder if Toyota is planning on adopting a Tesla-like direct sales model for Europe?

[Galaxy]

Are dealerships protected by law like in many US States? I wonder if Toyota is planning on adopting a Tesla-like direct sales model for Europe?

No, any car company can run their own sales networks.

[AltinD]

Was Toyota doing so badly in Germany they had to give ALL their dealers the heave-ho?

This is probably not a good time to be a German Toyota owner, especially if your car is still in warranty.

Nope, true they cancelled all 500, but they will re-sign with 400 of them, so in reality the cut down is only 20%. The service and parts centers are not effected.

[Madman]

Nope, true they cancelled all 500, but they will re-sign with 400 of them, so in reality the cut down is only 20%. The service and parts centers are not effected.

So what was the point of "dropping" all their dealers only to reinstate 80 per cent of them immediately afterwards?

[Soup DeVille]

So what was the point of "dropping" all their dealers only to reinstate 80 per cent of them immediately afterwards?

All new contracts with terms Toyota likes better.