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Shropshire group Shukers has a very long history, under the umbrella of an even older name. Engineering firm Rubery Owen was founded in the 19th century and counts among its achievements building 1960s F1 World Championship-winning BRNs for Graham Hill and Donald Campbell’s Bluebird world land speed record car.
These days Shukers is best known as a Land Rover dealer with showrooms in Shrewsbury and nearby Ludlow, where it is building a brand new dealership. The group is a strong local brand having supplied top-end 4X4s to its loyal customer base for many years.
However, recent diversification has seen it expand its Shrewsbury operations with the addition of a Subaru/Isuzu site and the opening in March of a dual-franchise SsangYong and Great Wall outlet on the same industrial estate on the town’s outskirts. Sales manager Stuart Woolley is the man in charge of leading the new business having joined the group in 2011 after starting his career in local media.
What prompted Shukers, a group closely identified with Land Rover, to open a centre dedicated to SsangYong and Great Wall?
Land Rover will always be our lead brand but for any business to be sustainable diversification is absolutely imperative. We consider that Shukers’ brand equity as a whole lends itself to any brand that we bring into the business. We also opened a Subaru/Isuzu dealership 18 months ago in Shewsbury and are about to open a dealership in Telford encompassing Subaru, Isuzu and SsangYong. The directors looked at various brands and felt that SsangYong was up-and-coming in the UK. The designs of future vehicles coming through and the launch of the Tivoli make us feel that SsangYong has the potential to do what Kia and Hyundai have done in the UK market.
So is Shukers having to adjust to dealing with a different kind of customer?
Yes and no – SsangYong customers are very well informed, almost a carbon copy of a Land Rover customer. Vehicles such as the Korando and Rexton are bought for a purpose; a customer intending to tow a caravan will want a Korando, with a fixed towbar and 13-pin electrics. They know everything they need to know about that car. The new Tivoli is different, however, a car looking to promote SsangYong into the more mainstream market. It is maybe aimed at a more female customer base, with its styling appeal, and it is targeting the likes of the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur. This B-segment crossover sector is an extremely congested, difficult market, but one that SsangYong believes it can penetrate. The Tivoli is a decent-looking vehicle, with a reasonable towing capacity and very well equipped. It will open up a completely different market to us.
Where does Great Wall fit into this?
The Great Wall franchise results from our ongoing relationship with the IM Group, the distributor of Subaru and Isuzu, and appeals to an even more specific buyer profile. Great Wall vehicles have a place in the market and appeal to specific people, especially tree surgeons and vets, who need the 4×4 transmission but not necessarily the tonnage and weight capacity. It’s a slow-burner but we will get there; we are marketing it heavily.
With a new dealership and new brands, how have you got the message out to the people of Shrewsbury?
We’ve hired a marketing company and used such methods as door drops, and we’ve taken the car to the people. We launched the Tivoli at the county show and we attended the Cosford airshow. With a brand unfamiliar to many potential customers it’s very important to get them into the cars, which is something we can achieve at shows.
Your showroom is perhaps not a typical SsangYong outlet?
We wanted to create a more relaxed environment compared to traditional outlets, where a potential customer could come in, have a coffee and not feel pressured by salespeople. Our showroom is designed in two aspects, the cars at the front and at the rear a more industrial environment, where the commercials are. And with the cars we have a TV and an espresso machine, creating a fresh vibrant environment, along the lines of a coffee lounge. When we represent Shukers at shows, we go about things in a completely different way to other SsangYong outlets. We are dressed in suits, not in open-necked SsangYong polos; that’s not the way we operate. Shukers’ brand equity is always part and parcel of what we do and what we are.
DealerHow would you describe the Shukers way?
Professional, understanding and dynamic. When people come into a Shukers centre, whether a Land Rover one or here with SsangYong, they will receive the same level of service whether they spend £10 with us or £100,000.
Such brand equity very much requires staff to be on-message. Does it make recruiting a challenge?
It does but we pride ourselves on strong staff training and very good communication – we make sure our people know exactly what we are doing with our businesses and why. Recruiting of new staff is difficult because you need enthusiasm. In a dealership, such as this, that currently doesn’t have a huge amount of footfall it can be difficult to be motivated, but we look for people we feel can progress within the business to management positions – Shukers offers them a platform to do that. When recruiting it is good sometimes to look outside the industry – primarily we are looking for people who have excellent customer service standards, are professional, well presented and like a challenge.
What focus is being given to the sale of added value products such as GAP/RTI insurance?
We do talk about GAP and Smart Insurance to customers and have a good system in place which focuses on whether you’ve asked all the questions you need to. Offering these products is very important to us as a business and the add-ons contribute to our margin and profit.
What steps has your business taken to adapt to the new regulatory framework for F&I and what impact do you think this will have on your profit model in the future?
Shukers has taken steps to address the new regulations across the business as a whole and our group operations manager takes care of it. If you follow the procedures correctly it won’t be a problem to your business.
How would you analyse your centre’s performance so far?
We had a very good Q1 which I was really pleased about. I expected Q2 to slacken off which it indeed has, but we’ve managed to ride the crest and put ourselves in a position that is better than when we started the quarter. But we still need to improve.
And how do you predict the business will progress?
New Euro 6 engines will be launched in the cars in September, and I am looking forward to seeing an upturn in sales helped by this. Our projections would suggest that SsangYong will outperform the overall UK market going forward. Eventually Tivoli will become our biggest seller, once people understand the market and understand the product. One of the biggest challenges is the badge. People don’t know it and see it in similar terms to how Hyundai and Kia used to be when they were recognised as budget brands. Shuker’s brand equity will help us to grow both the SsangYong and the Great Wall brands, because our customers think if Shukers is taking these brands, they must be worth looking at, because Shukers wouldn’t put its reputation on the line for poor quality.
Personalfile
Stuart Woolley
Position: SsangYong and Great Wall sales manager
First Job: Assistant at sports retailer
First car: Ford Escort Mk2
Current car: SsangYong Rexton ELX
Downtime: Football, cycling, family
Best Business Decision: “Setting up a small business board to support local businesses while at the Shropshire Star”
Worst Business Decision: “Difficult to say as you tend not to remember your mistakes!”
Andrew Charman
