Skoda changed to a direct sales model last year. This took away any control dealers have over discounts on cars or options as they lost their flexibility as Skoda controls pricing. Under the old system a dealer would buy stock from Skoda then sell it to you for whatever they liked to make a profit. Now the dealers are basically sales agents for Skoda. So unless Skoda offers a deal then I think the days of dealer discounts may be gone.
I think that was only for the EV sales, whilst servicing EV’s remained at dealer level, rather than agency and ICE continued as a non agency model and remained wholesale however, the agency approach for EV’s was withdrawn for the short to medium term earlier this year, with VW group blaming slow electric car take-up for the rethink.
This follows, Ford, JLR and Stellantis having also moved away from direct sales in recent months, and in January saw Polestar in the UK is now pursuing a dealership model, having previously only sold direct, thus opening the door for dealership haggling again.