SsangYong’s UK distributor has told just-auto that the brand is particularly well placed to ride out tough market conditions in Britain.
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Koelliker UK managing director Paul Williams said that a number of factors are working in favour of the SsangYong brand.
Williams maintains that an incentives-led approach pursued by a number of manufacturers has failed in the light of stalled demand. “You just have to look at the September market,” he says.
“Our strategy is more heavily based on selling working tools to business users and we believe that there are people out there buying, but they are only buying because they need to,” he says.
Williams illustrates the point. “In the case of a 120,000 mileage car that needs replacing, say a Shogun or a Discovery that needs to tow a horsebox, that customer needs to come out and buy and maybe be a little harder nosed about it. They’re looking for value and to do the right thing for their business.
“These people are maybe open to ‘less conspicuous’ brands that are maybe a good choice in terms of functionality and cost of purchase and ownership. People are therefore eying SsangYong vehicles with a fresh mind in current market circumstances.”
Williams acknowledges that Koelliker’s strategy (it took over UK distribution of SAIC-owned SsangYong cars at the end of last year) focussing on the niche user was initially driven by the SsangYong brand’s relative lack of awareness and vehicles with certain capabilities – in towing for example.
“But, admittedly with a huge amount of post-event rationalisation, that’s probably going to turn out to have been the right way to go because we set the strategy just before the financial crisis started to bite and it’s certainly the right strategy for the market right now,” he says.
Williams reckons mass-market volume segments in Britain are going to be hardest hit as UK car demand falters.
“I think it’s the family car market that is going to be hardest hit. Let’s take an example: the hard-pressed private retail customer for a B- or C-segment car who buys every three or four years on finance. He’s done 45,000 miles and the last two cars he has had have never let him down. These cars are built very well nowadays.
“He can put off purchase for a year very easily and that, say GBP300 monthly saving as a result might be very important to him – especially with the financial pressures and uncertainties of the moment. He won’t really miss the new car as a result of extended replacement.
“On the other hand, the guy who needs a car because it’s on its last legs and will cost him if it breaks down – that’s different. That’s more a capital good, a working tool. And that’s where we aim to be with a very competitively priced product.”
“Our lack of legacy also helps us in being more adaptable because we don’t have the history that some others are encumbered with,” he says.
But Williams acknowledges that it’s a tough market for SsangYong in Britain, too.
“Look, we’re in start-up but as a result of the way the market is we’ve had to revise our sales target for this year down massively. We expect to sell around 1,000 units this year, not the 3,000 we initially planned for. We have to be patient and do things in a professional joined-up manner so that we develop our UK sales base in a sustainable way.”
Dave Leggett
