Nissan’s ongoing commitment to the UK will lead to huge benefits for its dealer network and ensure prosperity and success for years to come – that was the message from Nissan Managing Director Andrew Humberstone to delegates at January’s national dealer conference.
The Nissan Insider team caught up with Andrew shortly after his keynote speech at the event, attended by hundreds of dealer colleagues from across the UK and held in the impressive surroundings of the Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City Football Club.
Thank you for your time today, Andrew. How would you sum things up in the early weeks of the new calendar year? What was the thinking behind the timing of the dealer conference?
We’ve come out of the blocks quickly in 2024. There’s a lot to do, and we wanted to meet with the network to share news of our progress. It was great to get together at the Etihad, the home of Manchester City, a long-term partner of ours.
What were the highlights? What was the message you wanted to give to dealers?
Generating excitement was my main objective – there’s much for us to be positive about. We’re a fast-moving brand with substantial investments happening, a fantastic product line-up and ambitious plans for the future.
Our kind hosts – Manchester City – recorded an impressive treble triumph last year, winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in a single season. You could call it the Power of Three! And at Nissan, we can emulate that.
In November, we announced massive new investment at our Sunderland manufacturing plant. Three billion pounds. Three giga-factories. Three electrification icons. Our own Power of Three!
The transformational project includes future all-electric versions of Nissan’s flagship Qashqai and Juke crossovers, and it’s been confirmed that the third vehicle planned for UK production will be the next-generation Nissan LEAF, the car that dared to spark the electrification of the automotive industry.
For our dealer network, this is terrific news, signalling a vote of confidence in the future and a solid, ongoing commitment to the UK from Nissan.
Tell us more about the benefits for dealers.
There’s a reason why Nissan invests so heavily in Sunderland: it has a proven track record. Take Qashqai – designed, engineered and built in the UK.
That’s what makes it perfect for customers in Britain and gives dealers who represent Nissan significant advantages over their rivals.
We’ll enjoy close technical support and rapid ongoing development, in addition to which, we can expect priority supply and build-to-order options – while the cars will be tailored to the needs of UK customers.
So what’s the outlook for 2024?
The last few years have presented many challenges and there is yet more turbulence ahead. Interest rates, inflation, the cost of living, energy prices – there’s a lot to to navigate. Meanwhile, customer expectations are rising – not just in terms of our products, but how we deliver them, and the role we play in wider society.
That being said, as a brand and as a network, we are in great shape. The list of achievements that we have delivered together over the last 24 months is staggering.
Strength to strength
We have successfully launched five new products, two of which were among the top 10 best-selling cars of 2023. We’re one of only two brands to achieve this!
We’ve also transformed our customer experience to become one of the best, particularly in respect of aftersales. And the partnership we have with our dealer network is going from strength to strength.
Backing all this up is a subject that’s very close to my heart. We are now considered the leader and benchmark for our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy within a Nissan region that stretches from Oslo in Norway to Auckland in New Zealand.
Every one of these programmes plays a part in underpinning our values. This all has a positive effect on people’s perception of our brand, which has risen substantially recently.
How will you tackle the challenges that lie ahead?
Put simply, we will Defy Ordinary, as outlined by our new Marketing Director, Fiona Mackay. We’re about to witness huge change – all of it positive. Managing transformation is a speciality of hers.
Nissan has always been a brand that has dared to do things differently. We need to challenge convention again and go back to our roots as a challenger brand.
How did Nissan do in terms of sales last year, and what are the brand’s prospects moving forward?
Thanks to the efforts of our hard-working dealer network during 2023, we achieved 96,632 registrations, up 16,390 versus 2022. That gave us a market share of 4.3%, up 0.1% compared to 2022.
The Dealer Awards were a key part of the conference…
Absolutely. It was hugely enjoyable to be able to hand out trophies and certificates to some of our best-performing dealer partners. We have some truly outstanding businesses working with us in the UK, plus plenty of exceptional individual colleagues, and it was wonderful to be able to give them some well-deserved recognition. Congratulations to this year’s winners!
And finally please, Andrew?
I simply want to thank our dealers for their continued support. Thanks also to our special guests at the conference, especially David Moss, representing Nissan’s Technical Centre in Cranfield; and Matthew Weaver, from Nissan Design Europe, based in Paddington.
It was also wonderful to have the company of Richard Whitehead, Gold-medal winning Paralympian, marathon runner and Nissan GB’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Ambassador, who joined us for our awards presentations.
At Nissan, we’ve done well in meeting the challenges we have faced in recent years – and I like to think this is due to the strength of the relationship we enjoy with our network, and the NDA.
We live in an ever-changing world – and we need each other to prosper and succeed. Once again, thank you – and here’s to a bright future ahead.