Jaguar News: Jaguar, Land Rover NA CEO Wants Dealers To Merge

[William Maley]

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 17, 2012

Jaguar Land Rover North America's CEO, Andy Goss is calling for individual Jaguar and Land Rover dealers to merge together.

“We want to cut the number of rooftops to about 200. At 200, the majority of dealerships would be Jaguar Land Rover,” Goss said.

Goss hopes that merger of individual Jaguar and Land Rover dealers will improve overall sales.

“Forty-five percent of people who own a Jaguar also own an SUV. It is the same customer base. It would be foolish not to try and get those customers,” said Goss.

At the moment, there are about 97 stand alone Jaguar or Land Rover dealerships in the U.S.. Goss wants to see half of them merge. The company is focusing this plan in seven markets: Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York state and Portland, Ore.

The company isn't forcing dealers to buy or sell, but its not offering any incentives for them to merge. Goss is hoping the prospect of better sales will convince them.

Source: Auto Guide

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[David]

News Flash to Idiot CEO, without a carrot, your dream that someone will just walk away from their dealership/sell it to someone else will not happen. Just look at the history of GM dealerships to see that this will not work.

Make it a directive and review the dealerships for strength and then force them by giving fair compensation to the owners who would lose their dealership and move on.

I agree that Jaguar/Land Rover should be one dealership.

[smk4565]

They already are 1 dealership around here. Hard to believe an stand alone Jaguar or Land Rover dealer could survive. Unless it is a Jaguar-BMW-Volvo or something like that.

[riviera74]

When BMW and Mazda wanted fewer dealerships, they bought out the dealers they wanted gone. Mr. CEO will have to do the same because of very strong franchise laws in every state.