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Merc dealers win top marques from Japan
Page 73
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MANUFACTURERS CONCERNED that their dealers will take on additional franchises in a bid to broaden their customer base and boost profitability should consider offering them some extra franchises of their own, says Marc Stottelaar, executive vicepresident, marketing and sales, at Mitsubishi Fuso Truck Europe.
"In effect that's what we've done with Canter so far as Mercedes-Benz truck dealers are concerned," he says. A key advantage of this approach is that the dealer does not have to get used to completely alien vehicle ordering procedures and can benefit from the back-office efficiencies that the manufacturer can achieve.
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus is 85% owned by DaimlerChrysler and distributes its Canter truck through Mercedes dealerships in the UK. It aims to boost Canter sales Europewide from 8,200 in 2004 to 16,000 by 2010. UK Canter sales should total 1,200 this year, up from 1,000 in 2004.
Anybody anxious to lay their hands on large quantities of second-hand (should that be third hand?) right-hand-drive Canters should nip over to Russia:There are around 10,000 there, imported as used vehicles from Japan," says Stottelaar.
Unfortunately, Russian roads, the Russian climate, and patchy maintenance mean most of them leave a lot to be desired.