CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk

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CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
THE VEHICLE DEALER’S NEWS SOURCE                                                           VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1 AUGUST 2016

CarsGuide, Dealer
Solutions and Manheim
to fall under Cox banner
Three of the bigger names in the Australian automotive industry services space are set to merge under one umbrella operation.

I
   nternational firm Cox Automotive                                                           “This exciting news is yet another
   has announced that it has formed                                                       sign of Cox Automotive’s commit-
   Cox Automotive Australia, which will                                                   ment to the local markets in Australia
include its fully-owned Manheim busi-                                                     and New Zealand. As part of Cox
ness, Dealer Solutions, which it took a                                                   Enterprises, a global firm with 55,000
stake in earlier this year, and CarsGuide.                                                employees and revenues of more
   News Corp Australia confirmed                                                          than $18 billion (USD), we can actively
this morning that it is selling its 50%                                                   support local clients with the re-
stake in the CarsGuide vehicle listing                                                    sources of one of the world’s leading
business to Cox. The rest is owned by                                                     automotive services company.”
members of the automotive trade.                                                               “Cox Automotive has identified
   Cox and CarsGuide have signed                                                          Australia and New Zealand as growth
agreements with a view to complet-                                                        markets and the confidence in our
ing the transaction by the end of 2016,                                                   people, our performance and our
after working through the necessary                                                       brands has enabled this significant
regulatory and legal requirements.                                                        investment in the future growth of our
                                              Sandy Schwartz
   Campbell Jones, chief executive of                                                     group of companies.”
                                              president of Cox Automotive
Manheim Australia and New Zealand                                                             “We can simplify the trusted ex-
says the acquisition of Dealer Solutions                                                  change of vehicles and maximise value
signalled the intended plan.                 Solutions and Manheim,” he ex-               for the entire automotive industry
   “The acquisition of Dealer Solu-          plains. “This will more closely align        especially vehicle sellers, buyers, deal-
tions earlier this year certainly            our capabilities in Australia with Cox       ers, manufacturers and fleet, leasing,
signalled our intent to replicate the        Automotive’s comprehensive range             finance, insurance and rental com-
breadth of products, services and            of products and services, available to       panies,” Schwartz explains. “We can
solutions they already provide on            the wholesale and retail sectors of          continue to evolve the client experi-
a global scale, within Australia and         the automotive market.”                      ence with a wide variety of solutions
New Zealand,” Jones says.                                                                 to meet the exploding shift in mobile
    “Today is a watershed moment              Each brand retaining its own identity       usage, online buying, consumer access
for the automotive industry, as we           and focus.                                   and customer expectations.”
announce our plans to strategically             Sandy Schwartz, president of Cox Au-          Lauren Williams, chief executive of
combine CarsGuide with Dealer                tomotive, called the new venture exciting.   CarsGuide, says the structure will ena-
                                                                                          ble the wholesale and retail sides of the
     INSIDE                                                                               trade to work more closely together.
  Dealer Profile: Max Kirwan Mazda                   7                                        “As part of Cox Automotive Australia,
  Search Optics opens doors to digital leads & sales 8                                    we expect to be able to further facilitate
  Tipping point for mass EV uptake is here         23                                     the links between the wholesale and re-
  Vehicle sales climb in July                      25                23           25      tail markets so our customers can take
                                                                                                                  Continued on page 3
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
FOUNDATION
      SPONSORS

AutoTalk acknowledges the support of our foundation sponsors:

2 | AUTOTALK.COM.AU | AUGUST 2016
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
NEWSTALK

Carsales profit up on
positive global outlook
C
        arsales.com has reported a net       S. Korean and S. American markets           able lead model
        profit after tax of $109 million,    perform solidly                             from July 2016
        up 6%, and a total operating            carsales.com also notes that in-         should be a good Greg Roebuck
                                                                                                                 CEO of carsales.com
revenue of $344 million, up 10% com-         ternational market growth has been          contributor to
pared to financial year (FY) 2015. The       positive, with its Brazilian and South      growth going forward.
growth comes off the back of strong          Korean investments delivering strong            “Our acquisition of a controlling
growth in its global markets.                local currency revenue growth, along        shareholding in Chileautos (www.chile-
    carsales.com chief executive and         with the acquisition of 83% of Chileau-     autos.cl), the top automotive classifieds
managing director Greg Roebuck says          tos in Chile and 65% of SoloAutos.          website in Chile, is another milestone
carsales’ strategy is delivering growth         SK Encar delivered a 21% underly-        in our international growth strategy.
in FY16, with revenue up 10% and             ing revenue growth year on year. This       The Chileautos team has built a market
EBITDA up 10%.                               growth was across all categories, in-       leading and profitable business and we
    “We are building a dynamic global        cluding dealer, private and display, with   anticipate deploying carsales’ expertise,
business; the economies of scale             monthly dealer leads trebling.              experience and Spanish language tech-
that come with this, along with our             “Integration of vehicle inspection       nology into Chileautos and SoloAutos,
world leading technology, are help-          services via our Redbook Inspect            our Mexican business, to rapidly grow
ing us evolve our business. Dealers          business and our (soon to be re-            our Latin American businesses.
and consumers have the same high             leased) payment service via Promise-            “Assuming no further deterioration
expectations in all of our markets,”         Pay are great examples of how we’re         in market conditions, we anticipate the
he says.                                     making the buying, selling and pur-         trialling of the lead model in Brazil to be
    carsales’ operational and strate-        chasing of cars easier and safer. Along     a good growth contributor to local cur-
gic highlights during FY16 include           with instant offer, products such as        rency revenue and earnings over the full
its domestic business continuing to          our new car showroom (released in           year. Korea is expected to see continued
perform well with dealer revenue up          June) will all contribute to growth in      solid local currency revenue and earn-
10% year on year, while private seller       the future,” Roebuck adds.                  ings growth. We expect ongoing integra-
revenue performance is up 19% year              “Investment in Brazil delivered solid    tion of core carsales IP and technology
on year.                                     revenue growth with Webmotors’              into our Chilean and Mexican businesses
    Additionally, display revenue has        underlying revenue up by 13% year on        to provide a solid uplift in revenue and
also seen growth, up 9% year on              year. Operational improvements have         earnings in the coming year.”
year, and finance and related services       delivered over 70% growth in lead vol-          A more detailed trading update will
showed strong growth with gross              umes year on year and key growth in         be provided at the October annual
profit up 29% year on year.                  finance leads and the trial of a charge-    general meeting.

   CARSGUIDE, DEALER SOLUTIONS AND
   MANHEIM TO FALL UNDER COX BANNER
   Continued from page 1
                                               marketplace becomes ever more
   full advantage of the synergies offered     influentia.” Williams says.
   by the new brand suite. The move will           “Major changes within the auto-
   especially allow us to offer our dealer     motive landscape are creating vast
   customers an even greater range of          new opportunities and formidable
   channels in which to sell and buy their     barriers to success that until a few
   vehicles.”                                  years ago didn’t even exist. Cox
      “The addition of the CarsGuide           Automotive Australia will exist to
   brand will fit perfectly within Cox         empower each of our customers to
   Automotive Australia’s evolving family      thrive in a rapidly changing auto-         Campbell Jones
                                                                                          CEO of Manheim
   of brands, particularly as the digital      motive marketplace.”

                                                                                             AUTOTALK.COM.AU AUGUST 2016 | 3
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
NEWSTALK

Zagorski takes reigns of
Ateco in Australia and NZ
Importer and distributor Ateco Automotive has a new boss who has revealed that commercial vehicles are a key part of the
business model going forward, while also noting that electric vehicles for the masses is another area that interests him.

Z
       agorski was ap-                                   OEMs gives us an              While he acknowledges that com-
       pointed man-                                      advantage in the sense    mercial vehicles are not a sexy part
       aging director                                    that we can react to      of the business, he does point out
of the Australasian                                      market trends much        that Ateco has had a lot of success
Ateco Group in July.                                     quicker than the larger   with them. “It can be a very profitable
Zagorski joined Ateco                                    car brands.”              business if you do your homework
in 2010 to set up and                                        One of his ob-        and give the commercial buyers a
run the Ateco subsid-                                    jectives is to con-       good value proposition.
iary Branded Financial                                   tinue leveraging that.        “We were successful with Great Wall,
                                          Roger Zagorski
Services, which is                                       Longer term, the aim      we brought in a ute and took it from
operational in Austra-                                   is to continue looking    zero to circa 20,000 units - now there
lia and New Zealand.                       for new opportunities whether as a      are around 40,000 in the marketplace.
    The company proved a major             niche brand or a Chinese product.           “Also cars are being produced
success for Ateco under Zagorski’s                                                 cheaper these days so the challenge
leadership, with a portfolio valued       Commercial and electric vehicles a       is to find the best value proposition,
in excess of $150 million and more        key focus                                whether it’s commercial or passen-
than 5000 customers across Aus-              “The Levante will give us access to   ger. LDV is definitely one brand that
tralia and New Zealand.                   a broader prestige market. But then      we would like to see go from a once
    He entered the car industry in 1996   at the other end of the spectrum         niche brand into the volume end of
as part of the startup team for Mer-      a niche brand like LDV, which we         the commercial vehicle market.”
cedes-Benz Finance Australia. In 2004,    brought in 12 months ago, is starting        When asked where the biggest
he moved to New Zealand to assume         to hit its straps,” says Zagorski. “We   challenges and opportunities are
the role of managing director of Daim-    have some new models coming into         for the brand in Australia and New
lerChrysler Financial Services and in     the range which will give us access      Zealand, Zagorski points out that
2007 he took on the responsibility for    to broader parts of the commercial       commercial vehicles and electric
all aspects of the German company’s       vehicle segment.”                        vehicles for working mums and dads
New Zealand operation as the man-                                                                         Continued on page 5
aging director and executive general
manager of Mercedes-Benz
New Zealand.
    AutoTalk spoke to Zagorski who says
he is looking forward to seeing the
company give the LDV commercial ve-
hicle brand a bigger presence, as well
as overseeing the launch of a couple
of new Alfa Romeo models, including
a SUV in New Zealand next year and
the Maserati Levante SUV in Australia
later this year.
    “The company is relatively small in
terms of numbers, but we have very
skilled people at the company who get
the job done. The knowledge bank at
the company is very strong as is the
dealer relationship and the importance
it plays in its success,” he says.
    “Being a smaller more nimble com-
                                                                                                              LDV G10 Van
pany compared to some of the larger

4 | AUTOTALK.COM.AU | AUGUST 2016
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
NEWSTALK

Continued from page 4
                                              company is close to announcing a            expanding ASV into Asia and South
are two big areas that he wants to            new appointment to its dealer network       Africa. Again it’s a new business for us
see developed.                                development team.                           and we are learning a lot of lessons
    “Tesla have been very successful at          “We will be looking at making more       as we go, but overall the reception
marketing their product, but no one           dealer appointments as we grow the          from dealers and customers has been
has been able to crack the volume             existing brands, but the important thing    great. There is also the possibility of
end of the market when it comes to                                                        entertaining other makes and other
electric vehicles. As an opportunity it is                                                brands altogether,” Zagorski notes.
massive so the challenge is to find the                                                      The re-engineered RAM models
right proposition,” he told AutoTalk.                                                     have full volume Australian Design
    “The prestige end for EVs is double                                                   Rule compliance, with ASV the only
because there is still a premium that                                                     importer of RAM Trucks covered by
customers are prepared to pay for                                                         that approval. ASV dealers currently
Teslas because they see them as                                                           offer the RAM 2500 and RAM 3500,
somewhat of an exotic vehicle. But to                                                     both in top-spec Laramie dual-cab
                                                                             Ram 2500
bring the production cost to a level                                                      form. The RAM 2500 Laramie is priced
where it’s a value proposition for the        to recognise is a balanced approach; we     at $139,500 plus on road costs, while
volume end of the market, and the             certainly don’t see a strategy where more   the price for the 3500 is $146,500
notion of mum and dads buying EVs             dealers means more sales,” he says.         plus on road costs.
and using them on a daily basis, is a            Zagorski points out that there will         “We also have a very strong dealer
challenge that we would love to get           be expansions in the dealer network         network in New Zealand. The dynamic
our heads around.”                            for LDV and American Special Vehi-          in the Kiwi market in terms of dealer
    While Zagorski notes that Tesla will be   cles (ASV) Ram dealers. The ASV new         ownership concentration is slightly
delivering a volume end model in 2017 at      addition with the Ram trucks will           higher, so we are happy to have a
around US$30,000, he notes that China         ramp up to 50-100 units per month           robust and highly profitable multi-
is powering ahead with EV technology          in Australia.                               franchise dealer that represent us very
and notes, “there are some manufac-              ASV is a joint venture between           well,” Zagorski adds.
turers there that are highly focused on       Ateco Automotive and Walkinshaw                “In New Zealand, the Chrysler deal-
battery power and EV technology, so I         Automotive Group. ASV imports RAM           erships have been performing very well
think that part of the EV for the masses      Trucks models in a left-hand drive          despite the current trends in Australia.
solution is going to come from China”.        format direct from the factory, and            “We are also looking forward to the
                                              the vehicles are then converted by          arrival of the Alfa Romeo new mod-
Aussie and NZ dealer network                  Walkinshaw’s expert technicians on a        els in New Zealand, with the Giullia
development                                   production line in Clayton, Melbourne.      and an SUV which comes out in 2017,
  Zagorski notes that while adding               “Once the production processes           which will be very good for business
more dealerships is not a priority, the       are bedded down we will look at             in New Zealand,” he notes.

                                                                                                                  Maserati Levante

                                                                                              AUTOTALK.COM.AU AUGUST 2016 | 5
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
NEWSTALK

AutoTalk Magazine and
autotalk.com.au are published
                                    Imminent imports
                                    decision intensifies
by Auto Media Group.
Phone: 1800 125 620
ABN: 37 51360 734

JOURNALIST
Max Pichon
+61 403 932 864
                                    lobbying on both sides
                                    T
max@automediagroup.com.au
                                           he Australian Imported         “We believe the Aussie           “This reform is in line
                                           Motor Vehicle Industry      consumer needs a better go,      with improving com-
MANAGING EDITOR                            Assn. says it is stepping   and more choice and more         petition and consumer
Richard Edwards                     up its government lobbying         affordable cars. They should     choice,” says AAAA execu-
+64 21 556 655                      efforts and meeting with a                                          tive director, Stuart Charity.
                                                                       be able to engage the car
richard@automediagroup.com.au
                                    newly elected cabinet, as          market outside the current          “We recognise the logic of
                                    it seeks to revamp its talks       restrictive dealership ar-       minister for major projects,
PUBLISHER                           around parallel imports.           rangements,” says Sandher.       Paul Fletcher, in initially limit-
Vern Whitehead                          Meanwhile, other key              Sandher also notes that       ing personal imports to right-
+64 21 831 153                      groups – the Australian            AIMVIA’s membership drive        hand-driving nations of Japan
vern@automediagroup.com.au          Automotive Dealer Associa-         has been better than ex-         and the UK. The government
                                    tion (AADA) and the Federal        pected so far for 2016. “I can   has recognised these markets
                                    Chamber of Automotive              say that we have had a large     as having similar safety stand-
SALES MANAGER                       Industries (FCAI) – have also      number of members jump on        ards to Australia.”
Dale Stevenson                      ramped up talks with key           board these past six months.”       Charity also believes the
dale@automediagroup.com.au          political groups, with the aim        AIMVIA says it remains        reforms will allow thousands
                                    of having the policy axed.         confident that the legisla-      of Australian vehicle en-
                                        The Labor Party and            tion will go through de-         thusiasts to import unique
OPERATIONS
MANAGER                             senator Nick Xenophon              spite Australian peak dealer     vehicles into the Australian
                                    have both expressed sym-           group, the AADA, actively        market. “This will generate
Deborah Baxter
                                    pathy with the AADA and            lobbying Coalition MPs and       new avenues of business for
deborah@automediagroup.co.nz
                                    FCAI’s concerns, and there         senators during the elec-        the Australian auto aftermar-
                                    are rumours the policy             tion campaign to get them        ket, as consumers service
Auto Media Group Limited makes
every endeavour to ensure
                                    could face defeat in the           to withdraw support for car      and customise their new
information contained in this       Senate even if it is endorsed      imports policy, as it “would     imports,” adds Charity.
publication is accurate, however    by the Coalition.                  cost jobs and investment”.
we are not liable for any losses
                                        Australian Imported               The policy would allow        AADA, FCAI: ‘Parallel
or issues resulting from its use.
                                    Motor Vehicle Importers As-        people to buy cars built in      imports rule will hit jobs
                                    sociation (AIMVIA) president       right-hand-drive markets, like   and growth for dealers’
                                    Jack Sandher told AutoTalk:        the UK and Japan, less than         During the Australian
                                    “We will be seeking to brief       a year old and with less than    election, the Australian Au-
                                    government and the relevant        500km on the odometer.           tomotive Dealer Association
                                    departments on the impact             The Australian Automo-        (AADA) and the FCAI joined
                                    of the Motor Vehicles Stand-       tive Aftermarket Associa-        forces to fight the changes,
                                    ards Act (MVSA) changes on         tion (AAAA) has backed the       mobilising their network of
                                    our sector, and encourage          decision to allow individuals    several thousand dealer-
                                    the Turnbull government to         or businesses to import new      ships across the country.
                                    embrace further reform of          vehicles themselves.                         Continued on page 12
                                    the MVSA sector.”
autotalk.co.nz                          Among the key priorities
dieseltalk.co.nz
                                    going forward is to con-
                                    tinue with existing reforms
autotalk.com.au
                                    and take them further,
evtalk.co.nz                        and encourage govern-
carandsuv.co.nz CAR & SUV           ment to accept and apply
identicar.co.nz                     Productivity Commission
                                    and Harper Review report
                                    recommendations.

6 | AUTOTALK.COM.AU | AUGUST 2016
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
PEOPLETALK

Dealer profile:
Max Kirwan Mazda
Max Kirwan Mazda, located in Preston, Melbourne, has been operating since 1946. The dealership has 70 staff spread
over an area of 8000sqm, with an additional holding yard where 400 new cars are stored.

2
       015 proved                             tomer and not you,       those sites as they have two            3. Can you describe your
       to be a big                            so it’s their customer   sites, two service depart-              day-to-day management
       year for the                           and you are just         ments and double the staff,             style and how it helps
dealership as not                             delivering cars.         whereas we comprise one                 achieve sales targets as
only was it once                                 We find that by       single site.                            well as increased staff
again Victoria’s                              not doing any fleet          The biggest dealer in US,           productivity and enhanced
bestselling dealer                            business we get          Wayne Mazda, sold around                customer experience?
for the year, after       Max Kirwan          more repeat cus-         2400 new Mazdas in 2015                    We have a very strong
                          Dealer Principal
recording a new                               tomers, and they         compared to us at 3165.                 management team plan-
state and national                            also refer friends       Australia is also classified as         ning culture. We run three
single site sale record of           and family to us. We have         a best practice country, ac-            business plans concur-
3165 sales, but it also cre-         people coming into the            companied by the most sig-              rently, namely a 12-month
ated a new record of used            dealership who have been          nificant market share and the           business plan, a three-year
vehicle sales. This saw the          buying cars from us for six       best customer satisfaction              strategic plan, and a five-
dealership achieve almost            or seven generations.             ratings of any other country.                          Continued on page 16
4000 vehicle sales in total             The other issue is that if
for the year.                        you deal with fleet com-
                                     panies, they might have a
1. What are your new and             customer that lives quite

                                                                                     VEHICLE SHIPPING
used car sales for the first         far away so you’ll never see
half of 2016?                        them come into your deal-
    For July year to date we         ership. Dealing with your
sold 1958 new units and 351          local customers in your
used cars. Our objective for         prime market area means
2016’s calendar year is 3500         they return to the service
new car sales - for which we         department and you have
are on track – and 700 used          regular contact with them.
car sales. We have a new             This means you have an
facelift model Mazda3, which         opportunity to support
has just gone on sale, so July       them not just with car sales
stocks of Mazda3 were quite
depleted, which reduced our
                                     but also with car servicing,
                                     which leads to relationship
                                                                                 JAPAN TO AUSTRALIA
sales result for the month.          strengthening and simul-                               FASTEST IN THE BUSINESS
                                     taneous building of the
2. What does your                    service department.                                 New port call to Fremantle
dealership do differently               Globally, we are ranked              Direct service to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne
to other dealers that                top 10 for Mazda sales,
                                                                                        Four vessel sailings per month
makes it such a successful           along with another two
dealership in terms of sales         Aussie dealers in Australia                           Agent bookings: GRAEME JENKINS // PHONE: +61 2 9700 0100
and customer satisfaction?           which are also in the top
    We don’t do any fleet            10 global sales dealers.                            BEN SIMPSON // PHONE: + 61 2 8103 4075
                                                                              ben.simpson@dolphinshipping.com.au // dolphinshipping.com.au
business. We are of the view         One is West End Mazda
that the dealership needs to         in Sydney with two sites,
build relationships with cus-        and the other is Grand
tomers itself. If you deal with      Prix Mazda in Queensland,
a fleet company, it is building      also with two sites. But the
the relationship with the cus-       overall volume is higher at

                                                                                                       AUTOTALK.COM.AU AUGUST 2016 | 7
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
NEWSTALK

Search Optics arrives to open
doors to digital leads and sales
S
      earch Optics, a                                         from Manchester Busi-          “Australia is a key growth op-
      global digital mar-                                     ness School.               portunity for our rapidly expanding
      keting provider                                             During a career that   global brand,” says Wright. “Our
with expertise in the au-                                     spans more than 16         international focus, combined with
tomotive industry, has                                        years, he has created      local talent, ensures we can deliver
appointed Tom Wright                                          and delivered digital      highly tailored solutions to clients in
as managing director of                                       transformation strate-     each of our key markets.
Search Optics Australia                                       gies in senior leader-        “From my early observations in Aus-
and APAC (Asia Pacific),                                      ship roles throughout      tralia, as seen in other markets around
                                            Thomas Wright
as part of its global                                         EMEA (Europe, Middle       the world, OEMs, dealer groups and
expansion strategy.                                           East and Africa) and       owner/operator dealerships can imple-
   The appointment of Wright aligns          APAC, including Auto Trader, News           ment digital strategies that are far more
with the company’s growth strategy and       International, Trinity Mirror, Thought-     effective. For example, a mobile first
strong focus on the automotive industry.     works and Sopra Steria.                     approach will generate better leads and
   He will work closely with Austral-           With sales, consulting, business         drive more sales,” he notes.
ian-based OEMs, local dealer groups          development and marketing experi-              AutoTalk spoke to Wright about his
and independent dealers to deliver           ence, Wright has provided solutions         plans for Australia and he explains:
digital marketing strategies and prod-       to key car brands such as; Audi, BMW,       “In the short term we aim to establish
ucts that will help generate higher          Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes,         the business and gain a foothold into
quality leads and improve their sales.       Nissan, Rolls Royce and Volkswagen.         the Australian automotive market. We
   Wright will add value to the company      He also has a deep understanding of         would like to gain some influential
as a result of his extensive knowledge in    the car dealership network, having sold     clients, which we are already in the
digital advertising and digital technol-     directly and indirectly to it for more      process of talking to, and also aim to
ogy platforms. He holds a Global MBA         than a decade.                                                     Continued on page 9

8 | AUTOTALK.COM.AU | AUGUST 2016
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
NEWSTALK

Continued from page 8
                                            Dealers can’t change what is coming              “These days OEMs are actively
have a good portfolio of case refer-           According to Wright, the one key           looking to engage their customers
ences by the end of the year.               difference in Australia is that a lot of      in the digital space. It is at the point
    “Long term, we want to be working       dealer groups own multiple brands.            where OEMs are trying to engage
with quite a few Australian-based OEMs         “You have many people compet-              with prospective buyers as much as
in two to three years’ time by helping      ing, but brand guidelines are the same        possible before they even visit the
them with their digital transformation.     around the globe. The OEMs have               dealership. A huge 78-80% of people
Five years down the road our aim is to      started to trigger a lot of the stand-        in Australia are using search engines
build Australia up to a platform where it   ardisation, which hasn’t really af-           to look for a car on their mobile de-
becomes the heart of the APAC region        fected Australia before. It is a changing     vice, he says.
in terms of growth.”                        market that is inevitable for all dealer         “The current generation’s percep-
    According to Wright, the Australian     groups,” he says.                             tions of car purchasing has radi-
digital marketplace for dealers is very        “At the end of the day it comes down       cally changed so now it’s not about
fragmented. “You have a lot of dealers      to how we can help dealers stand out          whether you should tailor your digital
and OEMs that are carrying out cutting      and be different within the guidelines        presence to get the mzzzillennials on
edge work in technology development         that are being set by the OEMs.”              board but rather about how quickly
and advertising avenues that other             Search Optics’ business model              you can tailor that digital presence
areas in the globe have not mastered,       works across all dealers from OEMs to         and capture their attention.”
but in other areas Australia is a couple    local dealerships.                               With more than 1300 Google-
of years behind the rest,” he says.            One of the company’s standouts is          certifications - the most in the
    “If you look at programmatic ad-        that it enables group sites and dealer        industry - Search Optics won the
vertising, there are certain OEMs and       sites to have their inventory listed          Google Premier SMB Partner Mobile
dealers that are doing a great job, but     with the site, effectively enabling           Champion Award in North America in
then within the same marketplace            dealers to have their own search              2015, proving its extensive expertise
there are people who have static            facility. “We allow dealers to have full      and capability for providing tangible
websites and are still spending money       search and availability of their own          results through practical tactics that
in the traditional areas of print and       stock on their site,” Wright notes.           bring in fresh sales leads.
radio and have not yet mastered the            “The second

                                                                     CONVERT MORE SHOPPERS
basics. So it becomes very difficult to     key advan-
give a one size fits all solution to such   tage is that we
a fragmented market.
    “Australia is currently the fastest
                                            have a fully
                                            responsive site               INTO BUYERS
adopter of mobile technology going          that enables
forward as a whole, not only automo-        dealers to have         ‘The brief we gave Andrew was to turn our team
tive. But the problem is that rather        a consistent            from “good to great” and he has delivered. The
than fixing the fundamentals, people        user experience         two months following the training saw the team
are focusing on providing some of the       across mobile,          break several records, there is no doubt that
new, shiny items at the top rather than     tablet, desk-
                                                                    Andrew’s processes and system had a large part
focusing on some of the core areas.         top or browser
    “What we want to focus on is fixing     within a smart
                                                                    to play in this.’
issues at the platform level, the stra-     TV. It removes          We will continue to use Andrew’s services to
tegic level that is, to try to see what     the technol-            keep our sales team on track and ensure they
we can sort out at the basic level. At      ogy cost and            have the tools to maximise every opportunity.
the moment a lot of money is being          enables them
                                                                    Full testimonial at: http://www.andrewmearns.com.
wasted by OEMs because they are not         to have a flex-
getting their core concepts right.”         ible site. We
                                                                    au/references.html
    Wright says that as a result of the     also enable             Jeremy Spicer
experiences he has had with OEMs and        direct analysis         Dealer Principal
overseas dealers, he feels confident        of a dealer’s           Manukau Nissan
that he has the potential to push those     website, cre-
success stories into the Aussie market.     ate pages and
    “I am hoping to share the wins and      adapt user
successes we have had in the past           experiences
and bring in that global outlook from       through the site
markets such as the US, India, China,       so as to focus
etc. We think we can help dealers and       on key targets                        T: 0488 800 210 & 1300 480 661
car makers by fast tracking those digi-     and produce                         E: andrew@andrewmearns.com.au
tal processes as well as extending our      the best return                           www.andrewmearns.com
relationships with OEMs.”                   on investment.

                                                                                             AUTOTALK.COM.AU AUGUST 2016 | 9
CarsGuide, Dealer Solutions and Manheim to fall under Cox banner - Autotalk
NEWSTALK

Navigating the aftersales
revenue stream maze: Part 2
Service and retail sales environments                                                    Make it achievable

I
    ’ve chosen to bundle these two                                                          So you’ve got a great prize and the
    together as the challenges, engage-       By Andrew Selim                            incentive structure is clear but the
    ment mechanisms and environ-              FieldForce                                 target is out of reach or the chances of
mental characteristics are similar.           andrew@randem.com.au                       winning are miniscule. This is a no no.
Again, for context:                                                                         They want a result as much as you
    Service environments – this is the                                                   do. So try incentives with language
cross-selling (‘We noticed you require                                                   such as ‘reach X and you get Y’
new tyres, we can fit them for you           rather than returning to the dealership.    rather than ‘reach X and you have a
today’) and upselling (‘Would you like          In both examples, customers are          chance to win Y’.
to upgrade to premium oil?’) by service      spending money, just not where we
advisors during time of vehicle service.     want them to spend it. In a market          Communication & engagement:
    Retail sales – this is the selling of    where vehicle sales margins are pain-           So you’ve ticked off all the above
accessories by vehicle sales staff in        fully thin, these lost revenue opportu-     – fantastic! But nobody knows about
retail showrooms.                            nities must be curbed.                      it, or they have lost interest along the
    The challenges are broadly simi-            So how do we win here? We need           way. It’s all about communication,
lar, that is gaining mindshare of the        to motivate and change the behav-           and as simple as it sounds, many still
key people to influence these sales.         iour of our prime influencers at the        fail to get it right. Where it can come
Service advisors are generally focused       point of sale.                              unstuck is through over complication
on getting cars in and out each day,            Now, I won’t go into the basics -        or trying to be too creative – time-
which sees very busy mornings and            things like online and offline marketing    lines go out the window.
afternoons with in between time usually      collateral, sales and product training…         So devise a clear communication
spent communicating with owners on              I say they are basic because if they     and content roadmap and stick to it!
unexpected issues etc. Indeed, the only      are not being done the question is
time they can sell is face to face when      begged as to what is being done?            Execution platforms:
there can be a long line of impatient           What works time and time again              Execution needs to be easy, cost-
owners wishing to drop off or pick up.       and far and wide to influence behav-        efficient and reusable. Gone are the
It’s a highly stressful environment.         ioural change - incentives.                 days of having to develop your own
    For the latter, their focus is to sell                                               digital platform to facilitate and man-
cars. It’s about getting the signature       Ensuring incentive success                  age your incentives. Your time and
and not complicating or distract-               So you’ve decided to do an incen-        money is better spent elsewhere, so
ing the process of achieving it. Don’t       tive – great! Here is where many fail:      seek out third party providers like
get me wrong, I know I’m painting a                                                      FieldForce who can plug and play
broad brush, but it is characteristic,       The Prize                                   exactly what you need.
especially in high volume brands/                Have you ever seen a kid excited to
models over prestige/niche ones. So          eat vegetables? Give them candy how-        Summary
what generally happens when these            ever…you know where I am going here.            For parts-revenue focused managers
sales opportunities are missed?                  You must ensure that what you are of-   at dealer and OEM level, the oppor-
    Let’s use the examples above - let’s     fering as a reward will get them excited!   tunities are plenty. Several strategies
say in the case we don’t ask to re-                                                      must be evaluated and a clear strat-
place the worn tyres? The owner will         Keep it simple                              egy devised for each channel through
most likely go to an independent tyre           Sell X of this and Y of that, but        which all can capitalise. The concepts
retailer which may also offer servicing.     only if the sun is shining and you are      presented above are by no means revo-
So not only have we lost the tyre sale,      standing on one leg. I’m being face-        lutionary nor my own creation, they
we may lose the customer entirely.           tious yes, but there is some truth in it.   have however proven to be powerful
    In the case of accessories, custom-      Some incentives are so riddled with         strategies in boosting parts revenue
ers more often than not shop after-          terms and conditions they land in the       when employed and executed well.
market in physical stores and online         ‘too hard’ basket.                              Happy selling!

10 | AUTOTALK.COM.AU | AUGUST 2016
NEWSTALK

Customers at the heart of
Hino sales and service focus
Hino conducted a survey to find out what is important to its customers. Consistency
in pricing when visiting the dealership or service centre came out on top.
BY MAX PICHON
                                            500 and 700 series medium and
                                            heavy duty trucks in July.

A
         s a result, Hino has introduced        “The truck market for the medium-
         fixed price minor servicing and    duty truck is our largest, so we expect
         slashed the price of service and   to see the same percentage but more in
                                                                                                                       Hino service
maintenance parts. On average, ser-         terms of volume coming in,” says Bleasel.
vice and maintenance parts have been           “With the light-duty truck we have
reduced by 24%.                             a leading product in terms of technol-        us to look at the training programmes
    Fixed price minor servicing extends     ogy and specification, and we think we        we provide to our dealers.”
to all Euro 5-compliant Hino 300, 500       will continue to see good sales in that          Bleasel explains that customer
and 700 series vehicles.                    section. In general, I have a positive        requirements are always changing,
    Pricing for minor servicing now be-     outlook on the sales market. Things           contingent also on whether they are a
gins at $559 for the 300 series (N04C),     will continue on the same path as they        fleet or retail customer.
$669 for the 500 series (J07E) and $869     have been so we won’t see any huge               “In order to get more insight into our
for the 700 series (E13 – FS, SS, SH).      boom or bust environment.                     customers we have been building this
    Fixed priced minor servicing includes      “We are getting repeat customers           customer care team over the last year.
vehicle inspection and diagnostic checks,   and some customers who come in for            This has enabled us to monitor many
engine oil and filter replacement, fuel     a brake repair, for example, but take up      things such as incoming calls, the num-
filter replacement, and vehicle greas-      the offer while their vehicle is being ser-   ber of dropouts, and any complaints
ing and tyre rotation by a professional     viced. We recently opened a customer          etc. We also survey the customers from
factory-trained Hino service technician.    care centre in-house where seven staff        a sales and service perspective,” Bleasel
    Hino Australia head of product of-      members send customers surveys to             told AutoTalk.
fering Greg Bleasel spoke to AutoTalk       get feedback on their experiences, as            Hino is also conducting some mar-
on Hino’s strategy to get the best from     well as feedback on the servicing of          ket representation studies to determine
its dealers for enhanced customer           their vehicles. That feedback is helping                            Continued on page 12
satisfaction. “Customers are looking
for the best price and consistency
across our dealer network,” he says.
“As they may have multiple vehicles
and may take different vehicles to
different dealers for servicing, they
don’t want unexpected surprises.
Hino Australia is therefore working
closely with its authorised dealers
to achieve this outcome.
    “From the dealer’s perspective it
means better retention because the
pricing is more competitive to that
which non-Hino dealers are offer-
ing. So, when a customer makes a
choice, hopefully they will see the
value of taking it to a Hino dealer.
As a result we have seen a 10%
increase in the number of vehicles
that have come back for servicing.”
    Hino offered the cheaper pric-
ing on the light duty 300 series
truck 12 months ago and on the

                                                                                             AUTOTALK.COM.AU AUGUST 2016 | 11
NEWSTALK

CUSTOMERS AT THE HEART OF HINO
SALES AND SERVICE FOCUS
Continued from page 11
                                                                    Hino modules             transport, its weight and bulk, and how
where more Hino dealers will be need-                               improve customer         far and how often it will be transported.
ed in five, 10, 15 and 20 years’ time. The                          satisfaction at dealer      “Our training process therefore fo-
modelling will focus on major transport                                Hino Australia        cuses not just on our products but also
routes, population growth areas, freight                            has also strength-       on building the needs analysis skills of
terminal locations and business growth                              ened its customer        our sales staff, which enables them to
corridors to decide where Hino may                                  focus by creating        find the right transport solutions that
need more full service facilities.                                  a comprehensive          are fit for purpose and best suited to
    “We are currently doing this mod-        Greg Bleasel           sales training pro-      each individual business’ unique needs.
                                             Hino
elling for Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney                               gramme aimed at
and some other areas. We are look-                                  enabling Hino deal-
ing at where we need new additional           ership sales staff to provide the best
dealerships - but developing a dealer         possible customer experience.
network is not something that can be              The five-stage programme is
done overnight as it usually takes two        delivered via a combination of online
to three years,” says Bleasel.                learning modules and face-to-face
    In terms of truck market challenges,      training conducted at Hino Australia’s
Bleasel points out that the whole             head office in Sydney.
                                                                                                                    Hino 300 hybrid truck
lifecycle cost of fleets is always a key          Hino Australia chairman and chief
challenge. “We are always trying to           executive Steve Lotter says the training
make the whole lifecycle cost more            programme is aimed directly at provid-            “Our dealerships are right behind
effective for the customer by reduc-          ing the best outcome for its customers.        the programme and the feedback from
ing customer downtime and improving               “It’s all about ensuring our dealership    our sales staff has been very positive.”
proximity through positioning our parts       sales managers and consultants have               The sales training programme forms
and service agents and dealers to areas       the knowledge and skills needed to en-         part of a broader Hino academy cur-
where our customers live and work.            sure they are not just selling a truck but     rently being developed collaboratively
    “The challenge this year in particular    are instead providing a total transport        by the sales, parts and service divisions
has been the exchange rate with the           solution to each customer,” Lotter says.       of the company.
strong Japanese yen. It has put cost              “The sales process for trucks is quite        The five-stage sales programme sees
pressures on us which we have not             different to passenger vehicles: the           staff begin at the induction level before
passed on to customers to maintain            sales consultant needs to take into            progressing to consultant, professional,
cost stability.”                              account what the customer needs to             expert, and then master level.

    Imminent imports decision intensifies
    lobbying on both sides
    Continued from page 6
                                                impact on “jobs and growth”.                 dependent on vehicle sales, includ-
        “The two bodies recognised                 “We think our letter brought to           ing our significant investment in
    this issue as poorly researched             government attention the negative            training and facilities,” the letter says.
    – and underpinned by no eco-                consumer consequences likely to                  The letter also makes clear that
    nomic modelling – on the impact             flow from this plan, and also ex-            the success of the dealership allows
    it would have on Australian dealers         pressed our concerns about future            the business to make an investment
    … and not evidentially supported            risks,” he says.                             in local communities as a “significant
    to deliver on its claimed benefit to           The letter, distributed to dealers        economic and social contributor to
    consumers,” FCAI chief executive            to lobby MPs and senators, says              the region”.
    Tony Weber told The Australian.             the dealer network has “significant              “If the Australian government al-
        AADA chief executive David Black-       concerns” about the proposed                 lows these cars to enter the coun-
    hall says the campaign got traction         policy changes and urges the gov-            try through informal channels. we
    in regional areas, where the policy         ernment reconsider.                          expect much of the burden will fall
    would have a particularly negative             “The viability of our business is         upon dealers.”

12 | AUTOTALK.COM.AU | AUGUST 2016
DIARYTALK

                                                                                300 repairs per month, which            Melbourne-based The
                                                        THE                     represents a 40% increase            In Motion Group has been
    Max Pichon

                                                  DIARY
                 AutoTalk’s seni
                                    or                                          over the previous facility.          appointed by Alpina as
                 journalist Max                                                    Martin Roller, managing           the national importer and
                                   back at
                 Pichon looks                                                   director of LMM Holdings             distributor for BMW Alpina
                                   ries in
                  the major sto                                                 including Brisbane BMW, Bris-        cars, which will initially be
                                   th on
                  the past mon
                   our Austrailian
                                                                                bane MINI Garage, Westside           available through the group’s
                                     ite
                   AutoTalk webs                                                BMW, Ferrari Brisbane and            Doncaster and Bundoora
                        to ta lk .co m.au
                   – au                                                         the Brisbane BMW Bodyshop            locations, trading as Alpina
                                                                                says: “The design, develop-          Automobiles – Victoria.
                                                                                ment and implementation                 The In Motion Group plans
                                                                                of this project has been 12          to make Alpina cars available

1 July                                       5 July                             months in the making.”               through further dealerships in
                                                                                                                     selected major metropolitan
                                                                                New boss for                         areas. These will be an-
Mitsubishi to recall                         ‘Cost of Euro                      Crichton’s Ateco                     nounced later in 2016.
almost every model                           6 standards                        Ateco boss Ric Hull has retired
Mitsubishi Motors Australia
will be recalling almost every
                                             to cost $495M’
                                             The Federal Chamber of
                                                                                as managing director of Neville
                                                                                Crichton’s Australasian Ateco        8 July
one of its models sold in the                Automotive Industries (FCAI)       Group – with his replacement
past 10 years after a number                 has reaffirmed its support         appointed from within.               New Honda NSX on
of key models were recalled                  for a mandated CO2 target             Roger Zagorski, who cur-          sale at dealers late
due to safety concerns.                                                         rently runs Ateco’s finance op-
   The models include some
                                             that is relevant to Australia.
                                                                                eration, is the new appointee.
                                                                                                                     2016
                                             However, the FCAI notes that                                            Honda Australia will sell the
of the car maker’s most                      the rise from Euro 5 to Euro 6        Hull will continue as a direc-
                                                                                                                     new Honda NSX at five deal-
popular models, including                    standards would incur a rise       tor of the automotive importer.
                                                                                                                     erships around the country,
the Triton, Lancer, Pajero,                  in new light vehicle costs of                                           with a pre-production model
Colt and the Lancer Evolu-
tion and Ralliart.
                                             almost half a billion dollars.
                                                 The Australian Labor Party     7 July                               arriving in Australia ahead of a
                                                                                                                     national roadshow.
   The huge recall – close                   in April this year revealed                                                The pre-production Hon-
to 500,000 vehicles – was                    plans to introduce mandatory       Looking forward to                   da NSX will begin a national
released earlier this week in                light vehicle standards, which     looking back                         tour of the five dealerships
nine separate alerts released                it says will save drivers $8500    Japan has become one of              that have been nominated
by the Australian Competition                in fuel costs over the life of     the first countries to al-           to sell it. These are: Yarra
and Consumer Commission.                     car but add $1500 to the           low automakers to sell cars          Honda; Scotts Honda; Aus-
                                             price of a new car in 2025.        equipped with cameras in lieu        tral Honda; Nordic Honda;
4 July                                           Meanwhile, the current
                                             Liberal National Government
                                                                                of conventional mirrors.
                                                                                   The technology isn’t
                                                                                                                     and Burswood Honda.
                                                                                                                        Honda Australia direc-
                                             says it is working on a detailed   quite new; we’ve seen it on          tor, Stephen Collins, says the
Top safety rating                            plan to meet climate change        numerous concept cars over           NSX will be a halo car for the
for Mazda’s                                  targets. The outcomes of this      the past few years, includ-          brand, but it’s the Honda Civic
                                             review will input into a de-       ing the Lamborghini Urus. In
people mover                                                                                                         Type R that will be the most
                                             tailed plan to reduce vehicle      fact, Cadillac offers its CT6        budget-friendly Honda hot
The new Mazda CX-9 has
                                             emissions, and help consum-        flagship with a digital rear-        shoe when it arrives.
now been awarded the high-
                                             ers lower the costs of running     view mirror that displays
est ANCAP safety rating with
an overall score of 35.87
                                             their vehicles.                    obstacle-free footage of             Subaru opens
points out of 37, to give it a                                                  what’s behind the car at the         dealership in
maximum 5 stars.
   The seven-seat SUV
                                             6 July                             simple push of a button.
                                                                                   However, no one has been          Essendon precinct
                                                                                                                     Subaru has opened its sixth
– which goes on sale in                                                         able to completely replace
                                             BMW’s new Brisbane                 door mirrors with cameras on         dealership in Melbourne,
Australia this week and New                                                                                          with the opening of Subaru
Zealand in September – is                    Bodyshop bigger                    a production model because
                                                                                sole reliance on the technol-        Essendon. The dealership is
the first generation of CX-9                 and better                                                              located in Essendon Fields’
to be awarded an ANCAP                                                          ogy is still illegal in most parts
                                             The Brisbane BMW Bodyshop,         of the world.                        Auto Centro precinct at Wir-
safety rating. Previous CX-9                 having outgrown its original                                            raway Road.
models were unrated.
   “This is the first time
                                             site at Victoria Street, Wind-     Alpina brand arrives                    Operated by Subaru
                                             sor, has moved to a new facil-                                          Melbourne, the company
we’ve subjected the CX-9                     ity at Nudgee Road, Hendra.
                                                                                in Australia                         relocated its existing service
to the ANCAP crash test                                                         BMW Australia confirmed the
                                                 The new site houses 4500                                            centre facility to the new site
process,” says ANCAP chief,                                                     introduction of the Alpina
                                             qm and has been designed                                                to broaden its offering to
James Goodwin.                                                                  brand into the Australian
                                             to optimise the vast space                                              include new and used sales,
                                                                                market through The In Mo-
                                             offered by the building. This                                           service and parts.
                                                                                tion Group, trading as Alpina
                                             will enable it to handle 250 to
                                                                                Automobiles – Australia.                         Continued on page 14

                                                                                                             AUTOTALK.COM.AU AUGUST 2016 | 13
DIARYTALK

                                     grants for 14,000 full-time       land. As its name suggests, the
                                                                                                           15 July
Continued from page 13
   On the opening of the             jobs across South Australia.      company provides financial
new dealership, David Rodda,            Motor Trade Association        services under names of the
dealer principal at Subaru Mel-      of South Australia (MTA SA)       brands handled by the dealers       Fiji LTA appoints
bourne says: “We’re excited          chief, Paul Unerkov, believes     with which it works.                JEVIC
to open a fresh and inviting         the 2016/17 state budget will                                         The Republic of Fiji’s Land
space that makes the brand           boost confidence in South         1800Approved is                     Transport Authority (LTA) has
more accessible to those in          Australia’s economy and           finance broker of year              appointed Japan Export Vehi-
the Northwest of Melbourne.          encourage jobs growth.            The ongoing growth and high         cle Inspection Centre (JEVIC)
The Essendon Fields dealer-                                            service standards of 1800Ap-        for the mandatory inspection
ship represents the latest in a
wave of major investments in         12 July                           proved has been recognised
                                                                       by the industry and the public,
                                                                                                           of used vehicles from Japan.
                                                                                                              The inspection will en-
Melbourne for Subaru.”                                                 with the company awarded            compass the vehicle’s condi-
                                     Manheim commits                   ‘Asset Finance Broker of the        tion as well as structural,
VW Australia told                    to Sydney future                  Year’ at the 2016 Australian        odometer, stolen vehicle and
to come up with                      Manheim Auctions has              broking awards in Sydney.           biosecurity aspects.


                                                                           The Australian broking
answers                              completed the purchase of
                                                                       awards are unique in focus-
                                                                                                              A pre-export appraisal
Volkswagen has again been            the land and buildings at 144                                         report from JEVIC will be
                                     Moorebank Ave, Moorebank,         ing solely on the leading           required for inspected ve-
subjected to Federal Court
                                     in order to cater for increased   brokers, brokerages and             hicles from August 15 while
orders to produce more
                                     business demand.                  aggregation groups, and is          inspections will commence
answers on the global diesel
                                         With a growing number         recognised as the most pres-        in Japan today.
emissions scandal that has
                                     of vehicles, trucks, machin-      tigious awards within the
impacted around 100,000
                                                                       industry. This achievement
Australian motorists involved
in the Maurice Blackburn
                                     ery and other assets being
                                     auctioned to increasingly         represents a new pinnacle
                                                                       of success for the company,
                                                                                                           19 July
consumer class action.               larger crowds every week,
    Further orders, to be made       the company has moved             all of its members, and its         Navman Wireless and
                                     to secure its future at the       founder, Rodney Michail.
by Justice Foster following
                                                                           Asset Finance Broker of
                                                                                                           Teletrac announce
the July 8 hearing in Sydney,        Moorebank site.
follow a pattern of behaviour            Campbell Jones, chief ex-     the Year award recognises the       unified brand
                                     ecutive of Manheim says: “The     broker and brokerage that is        Navman Wireless is rebrand-
from the company that was
                                     purchase of the 35,000sqm         best servicing its clients’ asset   ing under the name Teletrac
recently labelled by the judge
                                     site at Moorebank reflects        finance needs, while maintain-      Navman.
for treating Australia like a
                                     the success of our business       ing the highest standards in           This rebranding follows
“backwater” in its approach
                                     and our commitment to our         submission quality and cus-         Navman Wireless’ merger with
to resolving the issue.
                                     operations in Sydney.”            tomer service, as well as every     GPS fleet tracking software
    Justice Foster is due to
                                                                       area of the business process.       company, Teletrac, creating
issue the orders today, de-
                                                                                                           one of the world’s largest
manding Volkswagen provide
more detail on how “mode 1”          13 July                           14 July
                                                                                                           telematics organisations.
                                                                                                              Under the Teletrac Nav-
and “mode 2” emissions soft-
                                     Benucci appointed                                                     man brand, the combined
ware controls worked, and the
recall work to be undertaken.        CEO of Branded                    93% coverage for                    resources of Navman Wireless
                                                                                                           and Teletrac will continue to
                                     Financial Services                ANCAP                               expand the company’s offer-
11 July                              Umberto Benucci has been
                                     appointed as chief executive
                                                                       Australasian New Car Assess-
                                                                       ment Programme testing now
                                                                                                           ings to a more geographically
                                                                                                           diverse market, including New
                                                                       covers 93% of the market –
                                     officer of Branded Financial                                          Zealand, Australia, Mexico,
Budget lifeline                      Services, the company that
                                                                       with the awarding of five-star
                                                                                                           the United Kingdom and the
                                                                       safety ratings to both the
handed to SA auto                    provides retail and dealer fi-
                                                                       Suzuki Vitara and Kia Optima.
                                                                                                           United States.
firms                                nancial services for the Ateco
                                                                          Both models previously
The South Australia govern-
ment will provide grants to
                                     group of companies in both
                                     Australia and New Zealand.
                                                                       ranked as top-selling unrated
                                                                       models in their class.
                                                                                                           20 July
small and medium enterprises            Benucci’s move follows
                                                                          “We’ve awarded the
for each new job created in          the appointment of Roger
                                                                       maximum five-star ANCAP
                                                                                                           AP Eagers
the next two years as a way to       Zagorski, the previous CEO                                            expecting record
                                                                       safety rating for the Suzuki
invest in job creation initiatives   of Branded Financial Servic-
for South Australia and give         es, to the role of managing
                                                                       Vitara, which is a real boost       half yearly profit
                                                                       for consumers and Suzuki,”          The share price of AP Eagers
the automotive sector in SA a        director of the Ateco group
                                                                       says ANCAP chief execu-             has increased after the auto-
much needed helping hand.            of companies.
                                                                       tive officer James Goodwin.         motive dealership company
   The 2016-17 South Aus-               Branded Financial Ser-
                                                                       “The Vitara performed well          released a positive half-year
tralian budget, which was            vices has a portfolio valued in
                                                                       in physical crash testing and       update to the market.
handed down by treasurer             excess of $150 million, with
                                                                       includes reversing collision           The update reveals that
Tom Koutsantonis, estimates          more than 5000 customers
                                                                       avoidance and a manual              AP Eagers is expecting a
the schemes will provide             across Australia and New Zea-
                                                                       speed limiter as standard.”
                                                                                                                      Continued on page 15

14 | AUTOTALK.COM.AU | AUGUST 2016
DIARYTALK

Continued from page 14
                                    Man charged                        text for over 15,000 auto          a valuable addition to the
record profit result for the half                                      dealers worldwide.                 company’s presence in the
year ended June 30 2016. It
                                    over fraudulent                        Using the mobile messaging     Melbourne region.
expects a 14% increase in net       compliance of                      platform, dealers are able to         The existing Marwen
profit before tax, of approxi-      imports                            add chat and text to their web-    Drive dealership would be
mately $67.8 million, com-          A man has been charged             sites, mobile sites, advertising   re-branded Daimler Trucks
pared to $59.5 million for the      following an extensive in-         listings, social media and more.   Laverton, and relocated over
corresponding period in 2015.       vestigation into the alleged           “There are many vendors        the next 12 months to a new
   This record result comes         fraudulent compliance of 73        who sell chat, but Contact         facility to be developed on a
after AP Eagers’ aggressive         imported vehicles in Sydney.       At Once! is the only auto-         greenfield site on Boundary
dealership acquisition strat-           Detectives from the State      motive mobile messaging            Road by the group’s prop-
egy. In June the company            Crime Command’s Property           platform that can create a         erty partner Charter Hall.
announced it had acquired           Crime Squad established            network of consistent con-
the Tony Ireland Group, a           Strike Force Chorley to in-        nections among dealers,            More Aussies
Townsville-based car and            vestigate the irregular com-       manufacturers and online           looking to buy a car
trucking retail business selling                                       advertising sites such as
Holden, HSV, Land Rover,
                                    pliance of a large number of
                                                                       Autotrader and Cars.com,”
                                                                                                          in 2016
                                    new and used vehicles from                                            The number of Australians
Jaguar and Isuzu trucks, and        Japan to Australia between         says Adam Flegge, Contact
                                                                                                          who intend to buy a new car
Hyundai forklifts brands.           2010 and 2014.                     At Once! Australia sales
                                                                                                          within the next four years
                                        In August 2014, strike         manager. “Wherever and
                                                                                                          has been steadily climbing
21 July                             force investigators executed       whenever consumers are
                                                                                                          over the past six months,
                                    a search warrant at a motor        shopping for vehicles, deal-
                                                                                                          with a total of 100,000 more
                                    dealership on Bridge Street,       ers and manufacturers can
                                                                                                          car buyers now than at the
Autosports Group                    Rydalmere, where they              have immediate presence.”
                                                                                                          end of 2015.
banks on European                   seized documents relating                                                Near-term intention has
car sales
The increased demand from
                                    to vehicle compliance.
                                                                       27 July                            also risen, adding 60,000
                                                                                                          more Australians on the
Australians buying European
cars has underscored car
                                    22 July                            Peugeot Australia                  lookout for a new car in the
                                                                                                          next 12 months compared
dealership owner Autosports
                                                                       names new national                 with six months ago.
Group’s pitch to fund manag-
                                    Diesel powered                     sales manager
                                    vehicles growing in
ers this week, as the company
ramps up plans for an initial       popularity
                                                                       Peugeot Australia has ap-
                                                                       pointed Nigel Wright to the        28 July
public offering (IPO).              The number of diesel powered       position of national sales man-    Imminent
   Autosports Group met with        vehicles registered in Australia   ager, effective immediately.
prospective institutional in-                                             Joining Peugeot Australia       imports decision
                                    has increased by more than
vestors in Melbourne, Sydney        double that of petrol powered      in 2013, Wright previously         intensifies lobbying
and Auckland and then Hong          vehicles in 2016, according to     held the positions of regional     on both sides
Kong. Autosports is looking to      new figures by the Australian      manager for sales, national        The Australian Imported
raise anywhere betwen $100          Bureau of Statistics (ABS).        corporate sales manager            Motor Vehicle Industry Assn.
million to $400 million.                Diesel powered vehicles        and, since January 2016, act-      says it is stepping up its
   The car dealer has been          increased by 1.2% to 20.9%         ing national sales manager.        government lobbying efforts
working with financial adviser      and remain the fastest grow-          He was instrumental in es-      and meeting with a newly
Luminis Partners on the listing     ing fuel type for all vehicles.    tablishing Peugeot Australia’s     elected cabinet, as it seeks
plans and is targeting a stock-         The annual snapshot of         corporate programme in             to revamp its talks around
market debut later this year.       all vehicles registered for        2014 and securing Wool-            parallel imports.
                                    use on Australian roads            worths Australia, Nutrimetics         Meanwhile, other key
Full range of Teslas                shows that the total num-          and Right2Drive as Peugeot’s       groups – the Australian
in development                      ber of vehicles fueled by          founding fleet partners.           Automotive Dealer Associa-
Tesla founder Elon Musk has         diesel increased by 293,217,                                          tion (AADA) and the Federal
today issues his second master      in comparison to 114,337           AHG adds Daimler                   Chamber of Automotive
plan for the company – an-          petrol powered vehicles            trucks dealer to                   Industries (FCAI) – have also
nouncing plans to take on even      added to the Motor Vehicle         portfolio                          ramped up talks with key
more automotive sectors.            Register since 2015.               Automotive Holdings Group          political groups, with the aim
    While the company had                                              (AHG), Australia’s largest vehi-   of having the policy axed.
started off focussing on niche
parts of the automotive mar-        26 July                            cle dealer group, has acquired
                                                                       a Mercedes Benz commer-
                                                                                                             The Labor Party and sena-
                                                                                                          tor Nick Xenophon have both
ket, it was time to become a                                           cial dealership in Laverton,       expressed sympathy with the
broader brand – with vehicles       Software connects                  Victoria from Mercedes Benz        AADA and FCAI’s concerns,
in more segments.                   mobile shoppers                    Australia Pacific.                 and there are rumours the
    That will include a com-                                              AHG managing direc-             policy could face defeat in the
pact SUV, a ute/pickup truck,       and dealers                        tor, Bronte Howson, says           Senate, even if it is endorsed
a large truck, and a city bus.      Contact At Once! provides                                             by the Coalition.
                                                                       the dealership represents
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