2023 – A year of dealmaking at Inchcape
2023 was a standout year for Inchcape with a record 18 new deals signed
In 2023 more brands – like Subaru, Mercedes, Tata, as well as Chinese OEMs like Great Wall, Changan and BYD – chose Inchcape as their distribution partner across Europe, Africa, the Americas and APAC. By the end of 2023, we had 60 distribution partnerships in place with OEM brand partners.
“When you compare our 18 new deals in 2023 to an average new deal count of four per year over the past five years, you immediately want to understand what is it about Inchcape’s differentiated distribution platform that makes us so relevant for our brand partners in today’s world,”
Liz Brown Inchcape’s Chief Strategy Officer
“The automotive industry continues to transform – the transition to new energy vehicles is well underway, as well as rapid changes in consumer preferences on how they research, finance and purchase vehicles. We know that in this changing landscape, our partners rely on Inchcape to cut complexity, help them reach customers and deliver sustainable growth,” Liz said.
Inchcape delivers this in three ways:
- Firstly, our global scale, combined with our local knowledge, means we bring deep insight to our brand partners, helping them to market their cars to local customers, understand the regulations and conditions in that market and agree the right approach for inventory management and aftersales.
- Secondly, our industry track record is also a major draw for our OEM brand partners – some of our relationships go back more than 50 years. For our longstanding partners, this means a familiarity with their strategy and approach which can’t be replicated elsewhere. For our new partners, it means a deep understanding of the industry, local markets and what end customers want. Our particularly strong level of success in winning distribution contracts over the last 12 months has been fast-tracked by the acquisition of Derco in late 2022. This acquisition has enabled us to work with Derco’s long-standing OEMs – not just in the Americas, where Derco is present, but globally.
- Finally, our digital and data analytics capabilities are bringing greater insights to our partners. Our digital platform allows them to serve new and existing customers online and through our retail network. And our data analytics allow them to get much better insights into customer preferences, trends and how they want to buy, finance and look after their cars.
“Our brand partners know that these three ingredients create a powerful proposition which enables them to unlock growth opportunities, to build stronger local brands and, even more importantly, deliver an exceptional service for their customers,” Liz concluded.
Thank you to all of our brand partners – existing and new to us in 2023 – and here’s to another year of success together in 2024.