Mercedes to have ‘shared dealership’
MERCEDES-BENZ is in the process of awarding a dealership to Diarmuid Boland in Wexford, with a new dedicated showroom and workshops planned for the former Citroen premises on Wexford’s Motor Mile in Ardcavan.
Donohues, in Enniscorthy, which is three years into a fiveyear contract with MercedesBenz to sell its cars, said the dealership will be shared between the two companies.
‘We’re delighted that Bolands will share the dealership,’ said Richard Murphy, from Donohoe Mercedes-Benz.
‘I will mean more business for Mercedes in the county,’ he said, when contacted by this newspaper.
Diarmuid Boland could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for Motor Distributors Limited, distributors of Mercedes-Benz in Ireland, declined to make any direct comment on the matter, noting that announcements of changes to the Mercedes-Benz dealer network ‘are customarily made by formal announcement at the appropriate time’.
However, he said that change is taking place within the Mercedes-Benz family across Europe as the German carmaker pursues its goal to secure Number 1 position in the luxury car segment globally.
‘ The significant expansion that has taken place within the model range and the responsibility that this has placed on dealers has changed immeasurably when compared to only a few years ago,’ the spokesman said.
‘For dealers who represent Mercedes-Benz this has resulted in a requirement to provide showrooms and full after-sales supports, including minimum requirements in terms of new car display, stocking, training, staffing levels, tooling and technical equipment and so forth.
‘Against that backdrop, it would be understandable if such requirements did not suit every dealer’s business model, not least multi-franchise dealers with obligations to other brands,’ the spokesman said.