Dubai: After carrying out a service campaign in February for recalled Toyota cars, Al Futtaim Motors, the exclusive distributor of Toyota and Lexus in the UAE, has put a plan in place to grow business this year - one that is heavily focused on customer service. Simon Frith, Managing Director at Al Futtaim Motors speaks to Gulf News about the company's upcoming market investments.
Gulf News: In February and as a response to the Toyota recalls worldwide, Al Futtaim Motors carried out a service campaign on potentially affected cars in the UAE market. What were the results of the campaign?
Simon Frith: There were 3,000 cars involved in the recall. What we did was we contacted all of those customers who were still with us and we booked well over 2,000 in. We've also done the fix for most of those now, but really it's customer convenience dictating it. We have the ability to do all 3,000 cars at the same time because we've trained so many technicians to do it, but what the customers were saying was ‘I'd like to do it at my next service please.' A few hundred are only left to be done.
How much did it cost the company to carry out that campaign?
It doesn't come down to money on this one. It comes down to making sure that we've got peace of mind for the customers and we're doing the right thing for them. It's as simple as that. To answer your question, yes it has cost money, but in that sense, it's not important. What's important is that we've got a group of customers who are happy with their car and they've got peace of mind that their car is absolutely safe.
Has this recall affected your sales?
The short answer is no. If we look at our sales this year we're up 35 per cent on Toyota and we're up 76 per cent on Lexus. We also have to be honest that there are some people who may have considered us and thought no. It must be an impact of that sort. That's why our focus is to reassure the market and get closer to the customers.
What are the company's future investments?
We've got a great year ahead of us. I don't think this market is going to give any brands much help. It's probably best flat and if we're lucky we get some small growth. However that said, we have an ambition to be bigger. We estimate that we are selling three in 10 cars in the UAE. I'd like to be selling four in 10. If the market is not growing the only way we're going to do that is to increase our market share. We've moved our market share up by about four or five points. We've grown substantially. Overall we're up 37 per cent up year on year.
We want to grow bigger but we want to do it by thinking smaller and so what we're thinking about is: How do we look after our customers better? We've been here since 1955. If I can look after the customers better, I know I keep the customers in the brand for life. If we hang on to those customers we can keep growing market share. I don't have to go with expensive offers into the market place trying to move people off from other brands. They're here so my priority is looking after what we've got. We're going to invest in new facilities, new processes, and new systems to improve our customer service.
Does that mean you are looking into opening new facilities?
We are looking at investing in smaller service centres closer to our customers. We've got a plan to create four of those new facilities this year. They will have the Formula One sort of format. It will be drive through and convenient. We will service any Toyota or Lexus in less than an hour because that's what customers are saying they want.
When will these facilities be open and how much of an investment will they be?
In terms of opening we'd like the first one open this year, possibly two, but the work will start on all four this year. We will be spending a third of our profits each year investing back into the business. It's a considerable investment. We've really stepped it up. It demonstrates what we're trying to achieve and how we want to go about it: that is creating a business that is sustainable.
How is the Abu Dhabi market?
Abu Dhabi is growing at a faster rate than the rest of the UAE. You can visibly see it in the sales. We're opening a new dealership there. Currently we have one dealership in Musaffah in Abu Dhabi. That's not the end of story for Abu Dhabi. Next year, we will open our flagship dealership in Motor World. If you look at Dubai roughly it's the same volume of sales as Abu Dhabi, but there are three dealerships in Dubai and one dealership in Abu Dhabi. It's not balanced.
What's your outlook on 2010?
I don't see a lot of market growth in 2010. It's going to be flat. There may be some single digit growth but it's not the hay days of 2008 and 2007 where we were growing 20 per cent plus every year. It's just not there. The market is just not there.
How often do you look at what the competition is doing?
If not every day, every hour and every minute [laughs]. There is a Japanese management philosophy which is: go and see. What the Japanese do when they visit the market, they always go and see what's going on with their competition. It's part of their make-up. We're always visiting competition. If we're not visiting, we're talking. If we're going to understand our customers, we have to listen to our people and to build an infrastructure that will get us the feedback.
The car horizons
Simon Frith is the Managing Director of Al Futtaim Motors, the exclusive distributor of Toyota and Lexus in the United Arab Emirates. Part of the Al Futtaim group, the company is representing the Toyota Motor Corporation, and today remains the market leader in the UAE automotive industry.
Frith joined the company in 2007, having previously worked extensively in the automotive industry in the UK. Prior to moving to Dubai, Frith held the position of Operations General Manager for Porsche UK for three years, and he spent 14 years working on the development of the Toyota and Lexus brands in the UK at Toyota Great Britain (TGB) and the retail group RIG. During this earlier period Frith was instrumental in the launch of the new retail concept ‘The Toyota Experience' which transformed the showroom design and operation in across the 200-plus network of UK dealerships.
Frith studied Business Finance and Economic Studies at university and is married with two children.
The company: Focus on care
Al Futtaim Motors is a member of Al Futtaim, a leading UAE business conglomerate. It operates the Toyota, Lexus and Hino franchises through a network of modern sales showrooms, service and sarts facilities strategically located throughout the UAE to provide sales and after-sales service to its customers.
The company also operates 12 Tyre Express outlets in the UAE, where a comprehensive range of tyres and batteries is available, together with expert advice on tyre care and safety. The company's customer focus is exemplified in its guiding maxim of "We care and it shows".
