BMW is understood to be delaying its move to the agency model for retail new car sales while it “optimises processes” from MINI’s agency move in other European markets.
When quizzed about a delay to agency, a BMW spokesman said the manufacturer was “refining the rollout plan” and that there would be “slight adjustments to the timeline”.
While BMW in the UK has never publicly stated when it would switch to ‘new retail’ (its term for agency), the brand also had never denied what sources told Broker News would be a March 2026 switchover, a year after MINI.
The “slight adjustment to the timeline” is understood to be a European-wide move.
A spokesperson for the German manufacturer said: “The new retail launch is set for 1 March in the UK. With three weeks to go, final preparations are well underway and the transition is on track.
“We began the agency model with MINI in 10 European markets from January 2024 with a phased approach taking into account structural and market-specific conditions. Italy, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Austria are live right now. The next wave including the UK (MINI’s largest market), Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Ireland will go live in March 2025.
“We are currently refining the rollout plan for BMW with slight adjustments to the timeline. The focus remains on ensuring operational excellence and integrating key learnings from the MINI transition to optimise processes across all sales channels. The agency model is the future-fit sales model for the BMW Group in Europe.”
BMW’s delay comes after a host of other manufacturers have backed away from agency including JLR, Stellantis, Lotus and most recently Volkswagen Group.
While most BMW company car drivers and operators already are supplied via an agency agreement, speaking to Broker News last year, Matt Collins, General Manager of Corporate Sales, said: “I think the average fleet customer or corporate customer wouldn’t necessarily experience the same change as the average retail customer, but I think there will still be benefits for them because it will be a more harmonised offering.
“The customer journey they go through is obviously different to a retail customer, but there is some overlap. So when we improve the customer journey for a retail customer, the end users – the company car drivers – will also benefit from that.”
UK retailers are expected to welcome the switch to agency for MINI and BMW after Mercedes became one of the most profitable brands to operate in the current market, according to Broker News sources.
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Tristan Young is an award winning journalist with more than 25 years’ experience reporting on the automotive industry focussing predominantly on fleet and retail. As a self-confessed petrol-head, Tristan has a weakness for car classifieds. When he’s not writing about the automotive industry, he can usually be found outdoors with a small pack of border collies.
