- The two new manufacturers have remained tight-lipped about how they will sell their EVs.
- Many dealers are worried VW and Honda/Sony will adopt a direct-to-consumer sales model.
- The car manufacturers have been threatened with legal action should they go down the direct sales route.
Honda and VW are being urged not to sell their impending Scout and Sony Honda Mobility vehicles outside their established franchised dealers in the United States.
Last week, the Automotive Trade Association Executives expressed their concern at the possibility of the brands selling their vehicles directly to consumers or through an agency model where dealers receive a fee for facilitating the sale of a new vehicle. The association took out a full-page ad in the April 15 issue of Automotive News and asserted that state laws prohibit companies directly or indirectly affiliated with an established manufacturer from selling new vehicles without dealers.
Read: Scout Motors Takes A Jab At Chevy Blazer And Ford Bronco
The ad has been supported by 50 state and 21 metro associations and indicated that dealers could pursue legal action if VW, or Sony and Honda’s joint venture decide to sell Scout and Afeela EVs directly to consumers respectively.
Speaking with Auto News, the Automotive Trade Association Executives’ 2024 chairman and chief executive of the Pennsylvania Automotive Association, John Devlin said dealers were becoming increasingly concerned by the lack of communication from the carmakers about their respective plans.
“After two years of asking and getting nothing, frustration is very high,” he said. “If they want to sell the vehicles direct, it’s going to be an incredibly difficult battle.”
The chief executive of Scout Motors, Scott Keogh, has declined to say how the brand will sell its vehicles, simply stating it wants to do “the right thing for our customers.” A spokesperson from Scout echoed this sentiment in a statement.
“Our future customers are at the heart of every decision we make as we work to build our production center and design, engineer and ultimately manufacture and sell great vehicles,” they said. “The automotive industry is constantly changing, so we’re taking our time to very deliberately envision the right customer journey.”
In 2022, VW of America sales and marketing head Andrew Savvas informed dealers that Scout was an independent brand and that dealers would have no claim on its products. Little has been said about the company’s retail plans since then. Scout is developing both an electric pickup truck and SUV for the U.S. market.
Sony Honda Mobility representatives have not commented on the firm’s retail plans. It plans to sell its electric sedan in 2025 before launching a second SUV model in 2027.
