The switch of new car sales to an agency model (the sale of cars at a fixed price controlled by and sold by the manufacturer) has started in earnest, but as it moves from theory to practice the holes are already starting to emerge.
Mercedes-Benz made the switch to agency at the start of the year, and plenty of others say they are set to follow, most recently Ford, which announced plans to shrink its European retail network and pursue a close relationship with customers last week.
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The only issues I had in my last 4 new vehicle purchases were due to incompetent dealers, stuck in a 1970's business model and knew very little about the technology in the car. I'd much rather just buy direct, with maybe a regional demo centre very competent people rather than sales people.