Abstract:

In many national economies the automotive business plays a major role. In Germany for instance 10% of the working population is in some way connected to the automotive industry. In automotive retailing the impressive turnover of automotive dealerships makes them one of the most important players in local economic areas. In the Netherlands the top 50 automotive dealers sell more than 40% of all the 500,000 new cars entering the market in a year. Although the turnover on selling new cars is high, the profit margin is quite low, 1 or 2% at the most, comparable to food retailing. Continuous investments need to be done to keep automotive dealerships modern and up to date, thus somewhere money has to be made. In general 65% of the revenue in automotive retailing at Toyota dealerships in the Netherlands comes from the After Sales business.