Nissan GB marketing director Steve McLennan is the man responsible for ensuring Nissan’s message gets heard. Nissan Insider managed to snatch 15 minutes of his valuable time to ask about the new 1.6dCi engine in the Qashqai, Juke’s amazing success and find out why he loves working at the Japanese company.
This new engine has come at a reasonably late time in the Qashqai’s model cycle – what’s the story behind that?
To put things in context we’ll have our best ever volume year on Qashqai this year. We’ll finish somewhere between 39-40,000 units. If you compare that to the start of the lifecycle in 2007 we sold just on 27,000 units.
It’s great to have this sort of power train development this late into the lifecycle of the car. The diesel really does provide us with additional opportunities. For us perhaps some of the under-exploited sales opportunities are our diesel sales. We’ve done very well on the 1.5dCi engine, but now with this 1.6dCi it will be key in fleet channels and user choosers who are subject to the burden of company car taxation.
So are fleets the main target area for dealers with this engine?
This engine provides a great opportunity to sell to user choosers. Over a three-year retention period, in terms of just Benefit In Kind taxation, they will be something in the region of £914 better off with this engine over the 2.0dCi. That’s serious numbers in market sectors where BIK really matters.
Fleet is our biggest opportunity with this car. There’s a strong retail presence for diesel too though and we are well placed with this car with the 1.5 and 1.6 to cover all requirements. It will probably be 70 per cent fleet and 30 per cent retail for this car. The smaller engine is more 50/50 fleet/retail.
What messages should dealers be pushing?
The diesel market has changed and gone from a focus on outright performance to fuel economy and low CO2. The real push point for dealers is to focus on the savings buyers can incur through this new model. For a retail customer it stacks up to about £1,200 over three years with fuel economy and VED factored in.
It’s not just about the numbers but experience too. It’s smooth and refined with no compromise on power or performance and that’s powerful for existing Qashqai customers to convert to the new engine and equally to the 70-80 per cent of conquest business we are still enjoying.
That’s one of the most impressive things about the lifecycle of Qashqai – it’s had very consistent loyalty of 25 per cent and 75 per cent conquest.
What sort of marketing will there be around this new engine?
Nissan GB will be undertaking an extensive marketing campaign from the middle of November. We’ll be pushing the new features like the engine and Around View system. National promotion will include an all-singing and all-dancing TV campaign, supported with an integrated through-the-line campaign online, print, radio, CRM and via direct mail. There will be an extensive effort from the middle of November right the way through to April next year.
Dealers will see the benefit of that but of course in their own local marketing efforts we’d like them to complement those activities. There is a big loyalty opportunity with this car. We have exceptionally strong residual values on Qashqai and many are very successful at selling Preferences PCP on the car, so now the time is right and as these agreements mature our dealers need to focus on renewing those.
What are your thoughts on the recently announced Motability changes?
The changes send a signal to those that have criticised the scheme. We have been a continued supporter of Motability and for us it is a very useful source of sales and a useful source of business and profit for our dealers. We will not be winding back our activity in Motability.
Qashqai has been a successful model for these customers. The ease that users can get in and out, reliability and the excellent levels of service from our dealers mean customers have flocked to Nissan under the scheme. We will continue that offering.
We see the changes more of an opportunity than a threat to our business. Others will be disadvantaged more because of the changes. We are well placed to benefit though.
Has Juke recreated the success of Qashqai?
The growth has been even more impressive than Qashqai. In the first 12 months we are on the record as saying to our dealers that we would sell 17-18,000 Jukes but the reality is that 12 months in, we’ve sold 24,000. And we are pulling close to four per cent B segment share with Juke.
In September it was the fifth biggest selling retail car in the UK. So if you look at what it was launched against at the same time – Mini Countryman, Audi A1 – then Juke is coming out the easy winner. It outsells the A1 by two-to-one. Year to date we’re only a couple of thousand units behind Mini in total, never mind outselling Countryman by three-to-one.
We are 30 per cent up on predictions. You could say that’s a pleasant surprise or bad planning but it’s really been a pleasant surprise. It’s now the second major growth pillar in NMGB and dealers are reaping the rewards.
It sounds like you enjoy your job…
I started in this industry on the Toyota graduate scheme. I joined Nissan in 1993 just as it became the factory-owned company. I’ve worked in a variety of roles in Nissan in sales administration and marketing, notably in Europe where I was chief marketing manager for compact cars. I came back to the UK in 2007 as network development director and I’ve spent the last two years as marketing director.
I love my job as it can be very varied. I’ve also seen the full spectrum of changes from 1999 when Nissan was in dire financial trouble and luckily the Alliance came along and mutually Renault and Nissan got stronger out of that.
That was the low point. But it’s gone right the way through to the advent of Qashqai in 2006-7 and the steady platform of growth we’ve managed to establish from 2008 onwards.
The last few years, as the company has been growing and successful, have been the most enjoyable. Long may it continue.
I think we’re doing more right at the moment than we’re doing wrong and these are exciting times.