Renault Group UK has advised AM that its newest steps to scale back the variety of automobile dealerships that it needs in its supplier community could have minimal influence on automobile consumers.

It’s anticipated to shrink the 144-site retail community, which represents Renault, Dacia and Alpine, by round 20% by the top of 2025, with a concentrate on lowering the variety of companions it offers with and securing profitability for the dealerships which stay.

It can cut up from eight present franchise traders completely.

Not like carmakers Stellantis, Volkswagen Group and Mercedes-Benz that are reshaping their bodily showroom networks as they introduce company contracts and promote new vehicles direct to shoppers, Renault is sticking with a franchise mannequin for longer as world boss Luca De Meo fears that giving sellers a small fastened margin whereas the OEM controls the worth is “dangerous”.

The carmaker is aware of that profitability is essential to the long run sustainability of the franchised community, and in 2019 it revealed to AM that it was contemplating a “hub and spoke” market space strategy.

This week, in a press release, Renault Group UK advised AM: “In our first main change to Renault Group UK’s supplier community since 2012, we’ve got adjusted our gross sales web site protection to make sure the absolute best, constant, expertise for our clients, optimise our efficiency and supply a optimistic enterprise relationship for our companions.

“From 2025, our companions will scale back from 54 to 46, permitting us to make sure optimum protection for our consumers – 96% of whom will now be inside 45 minutes of a sale web site, and construct a stronger and extra sustainably worthwhile Renault Group UK for the long run.”

AM understands the adjustments scale back UK protection by only one share level.

In 2012 it slashed the variety of Renault dealerships within the UK from 190 to lower than 140 as a result of half of its retailers have been making a loss.

Earlier this yr on the group’s On R Pageant for its world distribution community De Meo said: “We’re altering the Renault Group and its manufacturers. To make it occur we should depend on every men and women of our distribution community.

“For me, the retailers are a really strategic asset. There is no such thing as a substitute for his or her ardour and bodily presence, on the bottom, subsequent to our shoppers.”