Skoda's Klaus Zellmer was one of three global CEOs at the recent Autocar Awards, alongside Kia’s Ho Sung Song and McLaren Group’s Nick Collins. Peter Rawlinson, who until recently led Lucid as CEO, was also in attendance, as were several other global, Europe and UK executives and leaders.
We were delighted to welcome them, honouring several personally as well as their cars, including the Five-Star Car award for the Superb collected by Zellmer.
The likes of Zellmer could not achieve what they do without their dealers, so it was no surprise to learn that, aside from the Autocar Awards and this interview, Zellmer’s brief time in the UK included a dealer visit, as did Song’s.
Skoda needs “the human touch” from its dealers more than ever, says Zellmer, in the face of such radical market change with EVs and the need to educate buyers, and also competition from Chinese brands. To that end, the firm has reversed a plan to switch to the agency sales model and will stick with its dealers to sell cars.
“What I love about our dealers is that they have skin in the game,” says Zellmer. “They’re entrepreneurs. The more you take away from them, they’re less incentivised. And it’s the spirit – that ‘I’m fully responsible’.”
The agency model was born out of “a market that wasn’t real”, he says, with demand exceeding supply as a result of the post-Covid semiconductor shortage.
The stall in EV uptake means “a more conventional system” has been maintained. Zellmer also frankly admits Skoda lacked the IT infrastructure to manage the sales process end to end.
Indeed, the growing need for dealers is evident in retailers scheduling “second delivery” meetings with buyers, in particular for EVs, because of the increased complexity and functionality in cars. While Zellmer wants his cars to remain simple and easy to use (“a little bit of conservatism doesn’t hurt”), car makers must still find ways to add features and value. He’s refereeing this balancing act personally.
Strong networks are something Chinese car makers are building, too, and Zellmer has a map in his offi ce where he puts pins in places Chinese brands have committed to building production or R&D facilities to circumvent tariffs. He also highlights the engineering power of China: in 2023, the country created 1.6 million patents. Europe had 200,000, the US 600,000 and India 78,000. “And it won’t stop there,” says Zellmer.
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