The last sentence “If we didn’t suspend orders, more Motability customers would be left disappointed next year.” doesn’t make sense. If they didn’t suspend orders, there would be more Motability customers happy that they were getting the car they wanted next year, NOT disappointed customers next year. So long as the KIA dealerships were honest about the expected delivery dates, customers wouldn’t be disappointed. The truth is that KIA earn more money from private purchases and (understandably) would rather sell to them and don’t want to risk those sales. So long as Motability don’t offer manufacturers competitive prices for their vehicles, they will have no interest in Motability sales. This was different went supply issues weren’t a problem. Dealerships were happy to not earn much from Motability because it still counted towards their sales, which in turn led to the dealerships getting bigger discounts from the manufacturers. Dealerships no longer need these Motability sales to boost their sales because manufacturers can’t even keep up with the volume of regular private purchases.
Youve hit the nail on the head @gilders