Dealer changes Australia?

[TheDocAUS]

That is A bit of a conspiracy theory DocAUS, next thing you are going to tell me man didn't land on the Moon.
Coming from a telecommunications background, Telstra Techs used to joke about the American made DSLAM and CMUX equipment while being good quality, but having sniffers on them dramatically slowing them down ( sniffers used for recording conservations for governments both Australian and American ) while the Chinese Huawei equipment did not have sniffers, but could not be used in Australia or evidently America as it did not have sniffers, but the Huawei equipment was also good quality and much faster as it did not have sniffers, and significantly cheaper.
Sniffers are common knowledge in the industry.

So the US just banned new DJ drones for no reason (as of Dec 2025)?

Some Chinese made vacuums connect to Chinese servers, also fact.

TikTok records and stores bio metric data. The CCP has access to the data.

Australian intelligence agencies recommend politicians NOT getting Chinese made EV's because they are concerned about spying, via the car.

The Chinese Communist Party is a notorious abuser of human rights, including their own people.

It is not just the CCP, Big Tech are nearly as bad when it comes to taking your data and spying on you.

The difference between a conspiracy theory and fact these days is about 6 months. I may need to make up some more conspracy theories up as all my previous ones have been proven correct.

I do identify as a conspiracy theorist. My pronouns are: Told you so.

 

[ADVAW8S]

My two cents, why does a dealer quit? Not making money. How do you make money on car business? Sales and service. If you are not getting the sales then you are not getting the service. Or you are getting the sales but most people are servicing their vehicles. You look at this forum, and large majority of buyers do their own work. So the dealer needs a high volume approach. Ineos will even say this is not a high volume vehicle.

I think IA needs to go back to the Bosch service centers and opening up the ability to clear software. Bosch for those of us that don't have time to work on them. And software clear for everyone. Warranty work can be handled by dealer or if no dealer around selected Bosch centers. Most parts are shipped to dealers now from warehouse.

 

[Shopkeep]

So the US just banned new DJ drones for no reason (as of Dec 2025)?

Some Chinese made vacuums connect to Chinese servers, also fact.

TikTok records and stores bio metric data. The CCP has access to the data.

Australian intelligence agencies recommend politicians NOT getting Chinese made EV's because they are concerned about spying, via the car.

The Chinese Communist Party is a notorious abuser of human rights, including their own people.

It is not just the CCP, Big Tech are nearly as bad when it comes to taking your data and spying on you.

The difference between a conspiracy theory and fact these days is about 6 months. I may need to make up some more conspracy theories up as all my previous ones have been proven correct.

I do identify as a conspiracy theorist. My pronouns are: Told you so.

Chinese tech products connect to Chinese servers, Korean product to Korean servers, American product to American servers, no conspiracy there. Not sure what the difference is between Elon Musk or Zhang Yiming monetising you.

All I know is if we ever come to the day the PLA activates the alleged kill switches in Chinese made products your BYD not starting in the morning is going to be the least of your problems.

 

[Clark Kent]

My two cents, why does a dealer quit? Not making money. How do you make money on car business? Sales and service. If you are not getting the sales then you are not getting the service. Or you are getting the sales but most people are servicing their vehicles. You look at this forum, and large majority of buyers do their own work. So the dealer needs a high volume approach. Ineos will even say this is not a high volume vehicle.

I think IA needs to go back to the Bosch service centers and opening up the ability to clear software. Bosch for those of us that don't have time to work on them. And software clear for everyone. Warranty work can be handled by dealer or if no dealer around selected Bosch centers. Most parts are shipped to dealers now from warehouse.

I think an element of this thread that has been overlooked is that Ineos Automotive in Australia has chosen to discontinue, i.e. not renew, their relationship with certain agents as part of the conversion from an agency model to a full dealer model. Justin Hocevar commented on this last year as part of that announcement. They went to market in Australia in 2023 with 22 agents, some of which just haven't worked out. So the current evolution of businesses is a little column A and column B: Some will opt out for their own reasons at the end of their agency contract but there are some that IA don't want to take forward as full dealers. Businesses that are a hybrid of big brand dealerships plus a small Ineos agency were not giving the Ineos brand equal attention in sales or service because the nature of their dealership contracts, including sales targets and servicing KPIs, pushed Ineos to the bottom in their business operations. That has hurt IA's growth in Australia according to Justin.

 

[AWo]

I think an element of this thread that has been overlooked is that Ineos Automotive in Australia has chosen to discontinue, i.e. not renew, their relationship with certain agents as part of the conversion from an agency model to a full dealer model.

Or vice versa, as the complete financial risk is shifted to the dealer with the new-old dealer model. As long as Ineos had the risk and costs dealers could afford to spend space, time and ressources. Now they also have the pre-financing-costs and the depreciation and the overall risk, when the car is not getting sold (in time).

It is not always that only Ineos takes the decisions and all other simply obey....

Without having it checked globally, but I could bet that dealers which sell multiple brands move away from Ineos first. It doesn't matter to them and they can compensate that. The dealers which are most dependant on Ineos will stay (longer) as they will really suffer when they leave. Stern in Germany is an good example. The largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in Germany. They moved away because what should be the reason to follow Ineos into the new business model, when in comparison to the other brands the Grenadier sells so bad?

AWo

 

[DenisM]

When MB fairly recently attempted to transition their dealers to an Agency model in Australia, the dealers took them to court... MB ultimately backed off. Our v successful Ineos dealer in Brisbane is quietly transitioning to a full dealership model. Their other gig is a growing Leap Motor franchise

 

[OGrid]

May not be related in any way, looks like new owners (August 2025)

‘The Bay City Auto Group, the peninsula-based business owned by the Sawicki family, has expanded its territory into Melbourne’s inner south with the purchase of the franchises operated by the Brighton Automotive Group with dealerships in Brighton and Bentleigh.’

‘The sale includes “the jewel in the crown”, Astoria GWM, on a high exposure site in North Road Bentleigh with volume of between 120 and 150 units a month.’

Sawicki family expands territory

Fresh from opening new showrooms in Frankston, Bay City expands into Brighton and Bentleigh

premium.goauto.com.au

 

[RY-Journeyman]

Of course their best option would be to facilitate making all servicing available (including parts) to all independent garages, scrap the dealerships/service agent model completely and just sell direct with delivery from warehouse straight to each customer an complete autonomy as to who and where we use for service.

 

[Shopkeep]

When MB fairly recently attempted to transition their dealers to an Agency model in Australia, the dealers took them to court... MB ultimately backed off. Our v successful Ineos dealer in Brisbane is quietly transitioning to a full dealership model. Their other gig is a growing Leap Motor franchise

Mercedes Benz Australia transitioned all dealers to an agency model in 2022, won the case when many dealers claiming $650 in damages took them to court in 2023, and won the appeal in the Federal Court in 2025. During this period their sales dropped from approx 28,000 to 20,000 per annum (2024) so the agency model has been an abject failure in terms of volume and they have gone from being top dog Euro in this market to having their ass handed to them in a hat by BMW. MB sales look to have recovered somewhat in 2025 to 22,850 but BMW was 26,842. Australia was once one of the biggest global AMG markets per capita where they held bigger market share than BMW M Power (one of the only markets to achieve this) and used to be the cashed up bogans default choice. BMW M Power now easily outsells AMG in this market.

 

[bigleonski]

Maybe all us Southerners should form a convoy and head up to Queensland to the last dealer standing for a Ineos Service Jamboree?

Bugger off - it’s a 2 + month wait for a service up here already without the riff raff clogging up the system further.

 

[DenisM]

Mercedes Benz Australia transitioned all dealers to an agency model in 2022, won the case when many dealers claiming $650 in damages took them to court in 2023, and won the appeal in the Federal Court in 2025. During this period their sales dropped from approx 28,000 to 20,000 per annum (2024) so the agency model has been an abject failure in terms of volume and they have gone from being top dog Euro in this market to having their ass handed to them in a hat by BMW. MB sales look to have recovered somewhat in 2025 to 22,850 but BMW was 26,842. Australia was once one of the biggest global AMG markets per capita where they held bigger market share than BMW M Power (one of the only markets to achieve this) and used to be the cashed up bogans default choice. BMW M Power now easily outsells AMG in this market.

My apologies one and all. I truly thought the dealers had rebuffed the change. Thank you for setting the record straight.

 

[RY-Journeyman]

Bugger off - it’s a 2 + month wait for a service up here already without the riff raff clogging up the system further.

Barely any wait up for service up here in North Queensland. Maybe just drive a bit further up instead of stopping in SE QLD. Road trip anyone...?

 

[Tazzieman]

Barely any wait up for service up here in North Queensland. Maybe just drive a bit further up instead of stopping in SE QLD. Road trip anyone...?

Bit too moist for me

 

[RY-Journeyman]

Bit too moist for me

Nothing wrong with a bit of warm and wet.

 

[Tazzieman]

Nothing wrong with a bit of warm and wet.

I've only got the raised air intake (fly/mozzie) vacuum cleaner