The Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce (VACC) and the Victorian Automobile Dealers Association (VADA) have secured an address from a prominent Norwegian dealer and chairman of the Norwegian Automobile Industry Association to confer with and share experiences with Victorian and Tasmanian dealers.

The Chamber is urging members not to miss the opportunity to hear from Per (Peter) Helge Gumpen, who is a third-generation Norwegian vehicle dealer and highly experienced association chairman. 

The webinar will be held from 6.00 – 7.30pm on Thursday, March 31. Members should contact VADA for details.

The speech is seen to be important guidance for Australian dealers preparing for the transition from internal-combustion engines (ICE) to zero and low-emission vehicle (ZLEV) technology.

Norway is the world’s biggest ZLEV market. In January, 83.7 per cent of all new cars were pure EVs (not hybrid or plug-in EVs) with 6659 sales for the month.

So dramatic is the move to pure EVs that sales of the Porsche Taycan EV (181 sales) alone outsold all the new petrol cars (175 sales). Only one petrol car, the Toyota RAV4, was in the Top-20 of new-car sales.

Petrol and diesel vehicles represent only 4.8 per cent of the total new-car market. It is the reverse in Australia where EVs – including hybrids and plug-in EVs – total about 4.5 per cent of the market.

The VACC and VADA are presenting the webinar to show members how the shift from a new motor vehicle dealership model of predominantly ICEs to a ZLEV dealership model would be made.  

The VACC said that VADA members remained uncertain on how exactly the five dealership elements – new, used, service, parts, and finance departments – would be affected in the business model transition.

The  VACC said that Issues with regards to operational requirements, the role of vehicle technicians and face to face interactions with consumers are causing VADA members varying degrees of anxiety.

The VACC said that to address the situation, it was agreed that links should be formed with international new-car sales enterprises to help inform VADA on the transition and that hearing from an actual dealer would be critical to the learning process.

VACC CEO Geoff Gwilym said the chamber has extensive industry links internationally and this network has much to offer VACC members.

Mr Gwilym secured Mr Gumpen, a third-generation multi-brand new and used car dealer who owns the Gumpen Dealership Group .

He said Mr Gumpen’s insights into how the vast uptake of ZLEV in Norway has changed the industry are “hugely insightful”.

Mr Gumpen has agreed to address the VADA membership base and shed a strong light on the changes that are occurring in a country that has the fastest take up of ZLEV globally.

He will also be available to participate in discussions about his business’ aftersales and service changes and how it has affected the new car market in Norway.

Mr Gumpen’s family opened its first dealership in 1936 in Kristiansand, the country’s fifth-largest city and renowned for its beaches and resort. Kristiansand, in the south of Norway, is the headquarters of the company and is the location of its largest dealership.

Gumpen now has more than 450 employees and has operations in five centres in Norway. It sells more than 7000 cars a year from the brands Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Nissan and Kia and also has a motorcycle outlet.

The success of ZLEVs has been attributed to the lack of a GST on the vehicles. However, the tax is now applied to hybrids and when imposed in January 2021, saw a fall in hybrid sales from 19 per cent of the market to only 6.6 per cent in January 2022.

Norwegian Electric Car Association secretary general Christina Bu told EV publication The Driven that motorists who in 2021 considered a hybrid moved to a pure EV.

“It is a political responsibility to ensure that electric cars win the competition in the new car market,” she said in the publication.

“If the government eventually intends to phase in VAT (GST) on electric cars, this must be done very carefully and the strategy must be that new polluting cars also become more expensive.”

By Neil Dowling