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Co-ordinating the Trafk

28th July 2005, Page 24
28th July 2005
Page 24
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Page 24, 28th July 2005 — Co-ordinating the Trafk
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Renault's van sales have come a long way in a few years. Emma

Penny asks national

fleet sales manager Mark Lovett about its success.

Ten years ago, if you wanted a van, chances arc you'd probably have headed for your local Ford dealer for an Escort or a Transit. But ifs a very different market today: buyers have more choice and as a result manufacturers are willing to offer customers deals to secure a sale. Ifs a much bigger market too; it's grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years, and shows little sign of slowing.

In fact some manufacturers have seen spectacular growth — and Renault is among them. Back in the mid-1990s it was a firm that was concentrating very much on its car division. developing the popularity of its Clio and Megane ranges among others. But while it was selling modern, appealing cars, its van range left a lot to be desired.

That all changed in 1998, when it launched the new Kangoo and Master, with the Trafic following a few years later. As national fleet sales manager Mark Lovett puts it: "We came back into the van market with a vengeance."

Lovett knows exactly what happened in Renault— he's played a crucial part in the firm's van strategy since he joined the head office team in 1997 after nine years working for the manufacturer in the dealer network.

Now. because he's spent longer in the market than anyone else, he's justifiably regarded as the firm's "van man"... a title he carries with some pride. At about the time that Renault decided to concentrate on the van market. Lovett took the lead role in developing its van dealership network.While the new products were good news. Lovett says it was essential that dealerships felt confident enough to sell them:"There is a bit of fear in some sales people that selling a van is complicated and technical. In cars, if the spec is wrong for a car fleet, ifs probably not too bad. But if you get the wrong spec for a van user it can be an incredibly expensive mistake, and there was trepidation where people had no experience in the light CV world.

It also became apparent that you can't force a car salesman to be a van salesman," he adds. "If they have no interest they will never be as successful as a person who gets a real buzz from it. We had to find people who specifically wanted to sell vans."

Dedicated van sales

Renault UK based its van sales network on developing business centres within car dealerships, with sales people dedicated to vans. The UK model was so successful that it has been adopted worldwide.

A new challenge followed for Lovett; he became a brand manager, and his first responsibility was to launch the new Trafic in 2000. It wasn't a task for the faint-hearted: "The role covered everything, from brand management, co-ordinating everything, training, press and PR,pricing,insurance groupi ng, parts and aftermarket — a whole multitude of things.

'The Trafic was an opportunity to show that we were really serious about the market, and it was unique when it was launched," he points out. "It was probably the most daring van we have made. It has a strong personality but it wasn't too advanced and the market liked it."

So much so, that since the Trafie's launch, Renault's total van sales volume has doubled. "We are one of the fastest and most consistent growers," says Lovett. "The first quarter of this year was a record for us. We've consistently been in fifth place in the market, hut it used he thousands of vans that separated us with some of the competition. Now it's hundreds."

Better than the market

Renault's sales are growing faster than those of the market overall, even though the past few years have seen record levels of van sales.

"I think we are performing very well," he says, "but we still have room to grow and we are continually monitoring our performance."

Lovett believes the van market's record growth can't continue indefinitely: "We are being optimistic, but there has to he a slow down some time."

At the same time he suggests the market is evolving, with customers choosing bigger panel vans at the expense of the smaller vehicles: "It's a reflection of the way people are working. Our customers want to make more efficient use of their drivers.

"Van drivers now have larger territories to cover and now, instead of returning for lunch or to be reloaded, they're often out all day, which boosts their productivity."

That is reflected even in mid-sized vans, with the launch of the Transit Connect and VW Caddy, which is bigger than its preclecessor.The Kangoo— due for a facelift this autumn —follows this trend, but it's not yet as big as its rivals."We are watching the market," Lovett explains."The Kangoo is due for replacement in 2007 and everything is alluding to the fact that it will be available with a bigger cubic volume. We'll be extending the range, rather than just 'moving it up' as the Kangoo is a vital product for Renault; it's the number one van in that size in Europe."

However, he stresses Renault isn't fixated on becoming number one in the UK. Instead, it plans to keep producing good vans and will work towards gaining market share through innovative products, rather than cutting prices to gain sales: "Of course the fact that we are number one in Europe does give UK buyers more confidence, and people are much more familiar with our products. Now we have the Trafic it is not difficult to break into light CV fleets. We've won business from fleets which previously only ran Ford or Vauxhall vans."

Support for the fleets

More than 90% of Renault's van customers are classed as fleets — even those buying two vans will receive a level of support from the Renault UK fleet team. "Really, you don't get retail van buyers," says Lovett. "People don't choose to buy a vehicle without windows unless they have a business need." And that means that everyone buying a Renault van should receive businesslike support: "We try hard to minimise downtime for our customers, and we need to get it 100% right first time.There are things we need to work on, hut we as a manufacturer are not alone; everyone is looking at improving the same areas of business."

A drive to improve and to service customers better, coupled with good products, has helped Renault come a long way since the days when it was regarded as a 'foreigner':"Our products are doing the job at the right price and making drivers happy. Success breeds success, and we've got a very motivated team who have confidence in their products and get a real buzz from talking to our customers."

But even with strong growth and happy customers, Lovett is still striving for even better performance from Renault UK's light CV division. But there's one thing he seems content with: "I'm very happy lobe Renault's van man."

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