Northern star
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Long established in Yorkshire, Iveco dealer Northern Commercials took on the franchise in the North-West, opening a new site for Irlam, Manchester. It’s a move with huge potential, says sales and marketing director John Bullock
Words: Kevin Swallow
In April 2010 Iveco truck and van dealer Northern Commercials opened a new dealership in Irlam, Manchester, taking on the franchise from Chatields. Using the former MAN site in Irlam, empty since the manufacturer moved to Trafford Park in 2009, Northern Commercials covers Manchester and the North-West, with a network of authorised repairers in east Manchester, Bolton, Chester, Liverpool and the Isle of Man. The move, requiring a £500,000 investment in tools, service vans, and courtesy and demo vehicles, means the dealer now covers an area west to the Irish Sea from Brighouse and Leeds.
Dealer expansion is all the rage. In the last six months, fellow Midlands Iveco dealer Guest Trucks acquired Sherwoods and TC Harrison, Scania dealer Keltruck bought South Wales-based Silurian, and Volvo’s Crossroads purchased Hartshorne.
The biggest battle they all face is being accepted by existing and potentially new customers. John Bullock, Northern Commercials sales and marketing director, admits he was worried about whether the Northern name would travel, but overriding that was the “tremendous opportunity” the North-West presented.
“It’s a big area for registrations, it has so much potential. Northern Commercials’ philosophy is to look after customers to get them back. If we look after customers, the sales will come, ultimately,” he says.
Bullock has set up an experienced ive-strong sales team with Beryl Carney as sales manager, but the current climate means sales will take time to get up to speed. Many hauliers and operators are struggling for inance and are hiring trucks.
“Northern Commercials had a lot of stock vehicles from 2008 that it was selling up to September last year. Now Iveco has gone through price increases in 2010 and another one in 2011,” he says.
This means that when operators come to change, Northern has to pass on the extra cost to its customers. Price hikes are unavoidable, says Bullock, because all manufacturers have had to put up prices and have suffered a torrid time in the past three years as new sales diminished across Europe. However, Iveco’s product development in the past decade means it is able to bring in a lot of new customers.
“The fuel igures are strong; we have put a Stralis demo truck on for six months to hit all the high-proile companies in the North-West. It has a fuel meter, so the sales team can go through the fuel results. A lot of customers, previously sceptical of Iveco, now look at Stralis very favourably,” he says.
Stralis is a key vehicle to getting aftersales business. “We have to push as many heavy units out there as we can; we will never support a business on van and 7.5-tonne sales in terms of aftersales,” says Bullock.
The manufacturer has also come out of the traps aggressively selling products on whole life costs. “At one time Iveco was [selling on] price and how cheap it could do it, now Iveco is packaging vehicles, the way I think it ought to go,” he says. “Weekly igures, backing them up with repair and maintenance contracts, using Iveco inance and capital schemes, looking at the bolt-ons. Customers want competitive R&M contracts and inance, and the good thing is that it is in-house.” Used sales also present a challenge. Northern Commercials has plenty of operating leases and Iveco has its buybacks, but “securing a threeor four-year-old vehicle is very dificult”, he says.
“Prices have come back even on tractor units, where 12 months ago values had fallen through the loor. Eighteen months ago nobody wanted a twoor three-yearold truck, everyone wanted new,” says Bullock. “Now prices are back up again and very strong, and customers are looking at threeand four-year-old trucks to put on the leet because of the [high] cost of a new one.”
Growing confidence
The decision in April 2010 by Leicestershire-based general haulier Ritchie Transport to buy 22 used Stralis AS trucks is testament to today’s Iveco product, says Bullock.
“At one time, nobody would take three-to-ive-year-old Ivecos because they didn’t have the conidence in the longevity of the vehicles, but now people take them because they are reliable.”
Northern Commercials has a purpose-built site at Brighouse able to display up to 60 vehicles, but Bullock says the company will look at a used site in Irlam, as it represents a huge opportunity. ■