The Current Situation of Car Dealerships in Hungary

Abstract

Cars significantly restructured the world, when practically opened a new period in human
civilisation and social relations more than one hundred years ago. Although, it was the privilege of a limited group at the beginning, by now, it affects not only our environment but the whole world economy. Car manufacturing, car trading, repairing - maintaining - and demolition activities and broad range of related services serve the interests of the whole society in an indirect way. In Hungary, building of dealership network was also ongoing in the ‘90s. In these years the majority of dealers had their own repair shops and professional relations, and dealerships were mainly family businesses operating at more sites. At the beginning of the years 2000, the sales network became oversized and its structure was not efficient enough either. The high number of dealerships led to an increasing competition, meanwhile dealerships also had to comply with serious development requirements. Due to the stimulation of purchasing, the demand for vehicles continuously raised, passenger car fleet reached 3 million pieces by 2009, when the market collapsed. The crisis, started in 2008, has affected negatively in particular the real estate and passenger automotive industry. Dramatic decline of liquidity also resulted in the fall of financing possibilities, as a consequence of which, people postponed their intention of purchasing cars. Due to this, not only the number of showrooms and owners changed in the last 10 years, but the number of new cars registered also dropped significantly, although shows increasing tendency again in the recent years. Comparing to the artificial increasing of demand in the years 2000, experts consider the current situation more realistic for car market.
In my publication, following to the analysis of secondary data, I carried out targeted primary research during my research, with the help of which I attempted to explore, analyse and assess the situation and current problems of Hungarian dealerships.
Based on the results of the survey carried out in 2017 on the situation of dealerships, it can be claimed that concentration and consolidation procedures are continuous, there have been no bigger changes in the last 2 years. Establishing close relationship with customers is getting more important for dealerships, as well as to be able to adjust themselves to the new mobility trends as much as possible.
Digital experiences, location of the dealership, internet access and post-purchase experience will all be influencer factors regarding the competitiveness of dealerships.