Motor Dealer caught up with David Kateley – Director Vehicle on the Suzuki GB head workplace in Milton Keynes. Within the reception space, the famend Suzuki Swift and racing legend Barry Sheene’s LJ80 4×4 Suzuki Jimny occupy delight of place. Simply past, a door results in coaching rooms and workshops the place the talents of sellers and technicians are honed.
Kateley, who formally took over from Dale Wyatt in January, first joined Suzuki GB over 20 years in the past in 2003 in a enterprise improvement position with Suzuki Monetary Companies. Taking up a regional gross sales supervisor place and a common supervisor position alongside the best way, he now has the highest job as Director Vehicle.
“It’s been fairly a pleasant transition. I had the pleasure of working alongside Dale for 10 years, we had partnership. Now, it’s my alternative to steer the enterprise going ahead. It could be fairly straightforward for people that come right into a director position to consider altering issues, slapping their authority on features, however as a result of I’ve been with the model for a very long time, I respect the DNA that now we have with our community.
“We have quite a unique relationship with our network. It’s about partnership and we tend to do a lot of consultation with them and in some ways our relationship is the strength of our success.”
Below strain
That partnership has come underneath strain in current months. The long run form of Suzuki’s UK seller community has obtained in depth protection. It had been on the playing cards for a while. Kateley remembers regional conferences with sellers in June, following evaluation of the ZEV Mandate implications, the place it was highlighted that volumes in This fall could be troublesome.
In session with its sellers, Suzuki was balancing conflicting calls for: managing buyer expectations, holding the manufacturing unit on board in Japan and sustaining seller profitability. One thing needed to give.
In December, a enterprise assembly was held to replace sellers about plans for 2025. Final 12 months had been demanding for the model, delivering 13,059 registrations, down -13.2% on the prior 12 months in a market that grew by 2.6%. Market share slipped to 1.18% from 1.4% in 2023.
Kateley says: “We had some onerous details that we couldn’t ignore. Laws is a driving drive that no person can get round, ICE combine is set by EV gross sales, our quantity based mostly on laws will in all probability be restricted to between 20,000 to 25,000 items over the course of the following two or three years.
“Taking that into consideration and taking a look at our seller community, we had too many sellers. We had 129, at 20,000 items that’s a throughput of 100/200 per website which implies profitability could be impacted. We needed to make some very onerous selections, grasp some nettles, and that fell on me as a part of my first actions in January.
“I thought it was very important as a business to act with integrity, as we are renowned for at Suzuki. I took the time with my co-director Denis Houston to book in teams calls with every dealer. If I could, I would have gone around the country, but we had a short time frame.”
The deciding illustration plan was accomplished on the idea of location, profitability, and quantity throughput. Clients have been reassured that present and potential prospects shall be inside an affordable travelling distance of their seller.
‘Together Towards Tomorrow’
Suzuki has status with shoppers and sellers. In January 2024, Suzuki was named primary automotive model for the eighth time within the UK Buyer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) outcomes printed by the Institute of Buyer Service. Outcomes are based mostly on belief, expertise, buyer ethos, emotional connection and ethics. Suzuki ranked 1st above 26 automotive manufacturers and fifteenth place general throughout all measured sectors from 270 named organisations.
On the seller facet, the NFDA Vendor Perspective Survey has constantly recognised Suzuki GB’s strengths close to profitability, as nicely the producer’s relationship with its sellers. Its community may be very worthwhile, making a 1.5% return on gross sales which is known to be business main.
Achievements equivalent to these are recognised by Kateley as “collective success.”
He says: “We’ve obtained a longtime set of folks that perceive the enterprise and perceive the business. That builds confidence for the community, the constant administration construction. The folks that have developed into the upper roles come from inside, that could be a legacy facet.
“The dealers and the partnerships they have with their customers and with us, that is a legacy aspect. We have six regions, and we have established around 17 or 18 dealers per region. Consultation, transparency and relationships are the cornerstone of how this business is successful and I have got no plans to change that.”
Talking with Kateley throughout Nationwide Apprenticeship Week, his ideas on the significance of nurturing future expertise in-house are clear.
Kateley says: “As a enterprise, now we have an apprenticeship programme that we run yearly. Round October/November we run a commencement ceremony often on the British Motor Museum and we invite all of the apprentices and their family members to have a good time their success.
“The industry itself, the technician side of it is quite a challenge from a recruitment perspective and to grow your own is important so we have put a lot of effort and support into it.”
Optimising alternative
Wanting forward Kateley sees key challenges by way of EVs and used automobile volumes.
“How will we know we have been successful this year? Our objective is “25 in 25”. The primary is new automobiles, a 25% combine in EVs which is barely wanting the mandate, however our automobile doesn’t arrive till the second half of the 12 months. Our base degree for this 12 months shall be 25% however in 2026 we can have the automobile for the entire 12 months.
“A 25% increase in used car volume, at the moment 46% of our used cars are only going through our network. Nearly half of our cars go through independents, so we need to get those cars back in the network. In the vehicle parc, we want to increase our vehicle retention by 25%,” says Kateley.
The producer is striving to maximise its automobile parc, acknowledging limitations close to new automobile volumes in 2025 Suzuki GB recognises the chance to develop its used automobile and aftersales enterprise, and reclaim enterprise.
Kateley says: “Last year, we had a really strong year up to the end of September. We were in growth. Last year was also the first year of the ZEV Mandate which was a challenge for us, and a challenge for the industry. For us, we did not have an EV, but we will have one this year.”
Electrical future
Kateley says: “The e Vitara is a new electric vehicle, but it is not called something different, it is called ‘Vitara.’ There is a big legacy aspect.”
Suzuki GB’s seller companions had the chance to view the automobile and provides their take. Kateley famous: “Suggestions was unanimously constructive, very constructive, which is an effective begin as a result of the automobile will go on sale within the second half of this 12 months. It’s our first EV; it’s a large leap ahead for us and it’s a nice automobile. The e Vitara will measure up very well towards the competitors. In January, we took the residual worth specialists – cap-hpi, Glass’s, Auto Dealer and Motability – to Hamamatsu, Japan.
“They had the first experience of being able to feel and drive the car and have access to the chief engineer and the executive officer of BEV solutions. They had unique insight into the car and they were blown away by it.”
Suzuki’s plan is to introduce an additional three to 4 new automobiles by 2030, with the following arriving in 2027.
“We’ve got 4 product pillars – Tech, Effectivity, High quality and Belief. Tech is all of the tech you get as commonplace – each automobile comes with all of the technological infrastructure you want with out further price. Effectivity, any Suzuki you purchase whether or not it’s hybrid or electrical shall be environment friendly.
“We are renowned for expected quality, Japanese engineering at its finest, and trust is about customer experience. Our dealers in the showroom demonstrate these four pillars to the customer,” says Kateley.
