Fork in road for dealers

TRADITIONAL car yards will need to shrink to survive, according to one of Queensland’s biggest dealers.

AP Eagers chief Martin Ward said the century-old way of selling cars was not sustainable. Mr Ward said AP Eagers was preparing to replace its “big glass box” showrooms with smaller satellite locations inside shopping centres. “The auto retailing model basically has not changed since the Model T Ford,” he said. “It costs new car yards $11 billion each year to operate that model and it is not sustainable.”