Mercedes-Benz plans to sell off or close all showrooms with about 80 dealerships and 8,000 employees. External dealers are to take over advice, service and sales - and if all goes well thousands of employees.
Mercedes sales will then be conducted entirely online or by external companies.
Mercedes spokesperson "We are convinced that the necessary transformation of sales is best achieved through long-term, targeted investment in Mercedes-Benz dealerships by independent dealership groups"
A few years ago Mercedes-Benz made jokes like many other Automakers about Tesla's direct and online sales structure. It took a few years and many billions lost to understand how wrong they were.