I still think continental car dealers (at least Belgium and France) are just not interested in selling merchandise. I have seen dealer promotional models on clearance, but not at dealers.

- A few years ago, a fairly large stock of Nissan 1/43 models (mostly Micra C+C, Navara, NV200 & 400) was sold off, and since then I've seen them at swap meets or even at motorway service station shops.

- Renault- and Citroën-branded stuff (models, keyholders, t-shirts, smartphone accessories) has been repeatedly offloaded at NOZ stores in France. You could describe NOZ as discount stores, but when you visit one, you have the feeling it's really the last step before landfill. Ugh.

- Speaking of Renault, last year, a whole range of classic 1/43 models popped up in various online boutiques. Most were sold in boxes as well as in cheap plastic blisters, just like the ones sold as Hachette part work models two decades ago.

It turns out the blister models were made, not for the general public, but for dealers eager to display a small Renault timeline/museum in a corner of their showroom. Unfortunately, not enough dealers were that eager, and and the leftovers were offloaded.

The solution would be to sell branded merchandise online only, and some do, but they don't seem to advertise their efforts enough.