By Simon Zekaria - 2nd May 2004
German car giant Porsche has relaxed its after-sales maintenance rules in a bid to meet new EU laws aimed at crowbarring open the car market.
EU regulators have cleared a new system that severs the link between being a recognised Porsche service centre, and actually selling the cars themselves.
As a result all Porsche dealers will have the freedom to sub-contract after-sales serving and provide spare parts to any authorised centre.
In the old system, the luxury car maker recognised outlets as ‘official’ only if they sold new Porsches.
But the new-look arrangements are not entirely without strings. For an independent centre to be authorised as ‘official’, the outlet must not sell rival sports cars, such as Aston Martins, Lamborghinis or Jaguars.
Competition authorities on Monday said the new system alleviated competition concerns because the caveat only affects about 8 per cent of car dealers of other brands and independent repairers in the union.
Carmakers have to ensure their sales services do not breach EU competition law in the sector.
European regulators formed an updated version of the competitive ‘block exemption’ on car distribution in November 2002.
The laws allow the car industry to be ‘exempted’ from normal competition rules and restrictions on specific sector agreements – depending on the market share of the company.
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