Many companies now have online sales channels, complementing the showrooms of their branch and dealer network. The online channels which helped to initiate sales are now also providing automakers with direct access to their customers, eliminating the dealership in the process.
The purchase is handled by the automaker’s sales office and it is only right at the end where a dealer will be assigned to deliver the new vehicle, and then provide the aftersales support.
This online approach is beneficial to the automakers, especially if their volumes are not big to sustain physical outlets. And Audi will be using only this approach for sales in Singapore from the end of 2024, according to a report by The Straits Times’ Lee Nian Tjoe.
Porsche Singapore too
The move is similar to what Porsche did in the same market in 2023 when it too stopped having a dealer to handle sales and has been selling its cars only via its online channel (though its process is not as extensive as Audi’s will be).
While many online channels usually initiate a sale, following which the customer will be contacted by a dealer to continue further into the process, Audi Singapore will manage virtually the entire process, from financing to, insurance and even trade-ins, according to Lee.
Dealer still needed
However, it will still rely on its dealer, currently Premium Automobiles, to provide aftersales support. Following Tesla’s approach, Audi Singapore will have its own showroom where customers can view and test-drive new models, besides displaying them at roadshows.
Singapore is first market
Audi Singapore has been planning to make this move since 2022 and has been supported by the head office in Germany. Singapore will the first market where Audi is doing business this way.
The report quotes Audi Singapore’s Managing Director Markus Schuster as saying that the approach could also be adopted for other markets. “If we are successful, we are happy to roll this out to other markets,” he told Lee. So we might well see Audis in Malaysia being sold only online in future.
Peugeot started online sales in 2017
Though it seems that car companies only started selling cars online following the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sales approach began earlier. In 2017, Peugeot (along with its affiliate Citroen and DS Automobiles brands) was the first automaker in the world to fully utilize an online channel to sell its cars directly to customers in France and some European markets.
The French company, part of the Stellantis Group, had seen the changing consumer habits and developed a digital buying solution to customers at its Buy Online website on the internet. Customers buying their new cars online enjoy a number of benefits which include a 14-day ‘returns policy’ – which refers to cancelling the order, not returning a car already delivered!
By 2021, the automaker said that it had seen a significant increase in sales through the online channel, accounting for over 15% of its total retail registrations.