VOLKSWAGEN Group Australia (VGA) is to merge the showrooms of a small group of national dealers, allowing them to sell both passenger and commercial vehicles.

The splitting of some dealerships, organised under previous VGA management, meant a handful were selling only commercial vehicles while others only had passenger-car allocations.

Now those dealers have been invited to share showroom space with both vehicle types. It will mean some adjustment of the showrooms and, in at least two cases, require additional building renovations.

VGA general manager of network development David Stone said the move would make it a lot easier for customers to visit one showroom for all Volkswagen products, in a similar manner to rivals including Toyota, Mazda and Nissan.

“We expect to have an incremental business increase because of these changes,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.

“The business will be better for the customer, for the dealer and for Volkswagen. We don’t want customers coming to our showrooms and wanting to see the whole range – from the Golf to the Amarok – and leaving empty handed and perhaps going to other franchises.

“Sales are expected to be bigger numerically for passenger cars simply because we sell more of those than commercial vehicles. However, we still expect a sales improvement for commercials.”

The move affects two Volkswagen dealers in Western Australia – John Hughes in Victoria Park and AHG’s Southside Volkswagen in Cannington – and Bayford Volkswagen in Camberwell, Victoria, as well as Kloster Volkswagen in Newcastle.

John Hughes currently sells only passenger cars and Southside sells only commercials.

“The market share has been below par in those two areas (Cannington and Victoria Park),” Mr Stone said.

“Therefore, we have looked at the businesses and made the decision to allow both to carry the two types of vehicles.

“To do this effectively, John Hughes in Victoria Park is in the process of increasing its showroom space. The revision of the AHG franchise in Cannington, Southside Volkswagen, is being planned at the moment.

“The John Hughes expansion will be ready earlier than the one at Cannington, but in the interests of being fair to the businesses and customers, we want to have both open at the same time. We believe both will be in operation by the end of this year.”

Perth’s northern suburbs franchise, Osborne Park Volkswagen that is also owned by AHG, was initially only a passenger-car dealer but added commercials about a year ago.

By Neil Dowling