FRANCOIS Goupil de Bouille is quite clear on how Infiniti should grow its corporate sales: by riding on the coat-tails of its more fleet-established Alliance Partners in a group offering – something that Jaguar Land Rover has now embraced – and by appealing to the SME business user through design and technology.
The vice president of Infiniti EMEA explained that these two approaches would form the “two pillars” of the Infiniti plans to grow fleet sales.
“The first is to deliver with our Alliance Partners Renault and Nissan. Both are in fleet already with Nissan strong in the UK and Renault strong in France. The opportunity is for Infiniti to add the premium brand to that Alliance strategy. If you don’t have a premium brand in your offering you are open to rival manufacturer offerings that can. So the full offer is key.”
The second part of Infiniti’s sales strategy, explained Goupil de Bouille, was to attract business users to the brand, those smaller B2B companies with one or two cars on their consideration list.
“These people have direct contact with Infiniti. They want different design, advanced technology, good performance and luxury. They are looking for something different, so why not Infiniti? We need to the get this package right. Our aim is to mix a cocktail that tastes different for these customers – and it’s a taste they like.”
Getting the product right is the key part, though, acknowledged Goupil de Bouille.
“Q30 is a real opportunity for us. It’s made for Europe, and built in Britain.To be successful in the UK market is going to be key for the rest of Europe. And the story so far is good. The car was launched in January, and the feedback has been positive.”
