The European Commission today proposed sweeping changes in the way new cars are sold in Europe, a move aimed at giving buyers more price-shopping leeway and breaking the car makers' decades-old grip on distribution and service.
In the works for two years, the proposed regulations - which require consultations with the 15-nation European Union before going back to the commission for final approval - would end the tradition of automakers selling their products and parts exclusively through approved dealerships.
However, Irish car-buyers are unlikely to see any material change in the cost of their cars here because of the Vehicle Registration Tax rates introduced in 1993. These will have to be altered before the retail cost of cars in Ireland falls.
"The commission is putting car buyers first," Commission President Romano Prodi said on the sidelines of the European Parliament after a Commission meeting here.
"People want a choice," he said. "They want to buy cars and obtain services wherever it is most advantageous, to have a choice of brands and models and to have high quality after-sales serving at a reasonable price".
Competition Commissioner Mr Mario Monti, speaking to parliament, called the move "a bold initiative" that "encourages diversity and choice in motor vehicle retailing and puts the European consumer firmly in the driver's seat.
"It should help to remedy the competition problems that we have observed in the sector over the past few years and allow the car buyer to purchase his vehicle wherever it is cheapest."
The changes would, said a Commission statement, "open the way to greater use of new distribution techniques such as Internet sales. It will lead to more competition between dealers, make cross-border purchases... significantly easier and lead to greater price competition."
Potentially, car dealers would be able to sell cars from a variety of manufacturers - not unlike the way supermarkets, for instance, sell milk or pasta from different producers.
The 20-member Commission hopes its reforms will narrow yawning differences in sticker prices for the same car sold in different EU member states.
AFP