With sales of light commercial vehicles up by 40% last year, outstripping the market by a factor of two-to-one, you’d be forgiven for thinking Renault executives would be backslapping themselves into 2015. Not so – and with very good reason.

Renault has had a chaotic recent history in the UK. In 2012 it was forced to reappraise its position: out went the loss-making Laguna and Espace, the dealer network was cut by third and around 30% of staff were made redundant. That year, sales of cars fell by more than 40% in a market up 5%; LCVs slumped by 24% in a market down less than 8%.

Consequently, 2014 is seen as simply a vital step towards a more successful and sustainable organisation. It took Renault to number seven for vans in the UK on 18,170 units; it’s worth remembering, however, that across Europe Renault is the market leader.

Investment has now become a priority to sustain the revival, particularly in people. Mark Dickens was appointed to the newly-created role of head of fleet sales operations and remarketing in October 2014; Renault has not had a head of fleet since Darren Payne was promoted to sales director in 2012, amalgamating the two roles.

Dickens has since overseen the expansion of his fleet team from six local business field staff to 10, and from six corporate sales managers to nine.

His biggest challenge? “Getting us visible; getting our message across that we have the products and infrastructure to support fleets,” Dickens replies.

Growing pains

He concedes that the company has further growing pains to overcome, particularly in logistics. Cuts in the dealer network and staff put Renault on the back foot: the pace of its growth last year means it needs to increase both as quickly as possible.

“We have further opportunities to grow but we need to have the resource to manage it,” he says. Part of the investment is in infrastructure, such as adding another 50 vehicles to the demo fleet (cars and vans) at a cost of around £500,000. It includes making the Kangoo ZE electric van available for extended week-long tests.

Dickens has progressed around various roles at Renault for the past 18 years, but has never worked in fleet. Appointing someone with such a lack of experience was a deliberate ploy: Darren Payne didn’t want anyone with preconceived or outdated ideas about how the fleet team and service should be structured.

Consequently, Dickens is doing some things differently. For example, at a local business level, activity has changed: the local fleet team now targets the 38 Pro+ dealers with a minimum number of visits each month, to generate a 33% increase in the customer touch points.

He is also changing the way Renault audits its dealers, pointing out that manufacturers are very good at “checking floor tiles”, but not so good at assessing the things that customers really want.

“We are about to do a pro-customer journey audit that looks at how customers see our Pro+ network and how they interact with us, with sales and with aftersales. It’s a 360-degree vision on what we need to provide to make our service a seamless loop,” Dickens says.

“For example, take our fleet hub. In the past, if you called us you would have got our customer service team; if you emailed us, it went to a dealer. Now all contact comes into our fleet hub.”

Renault has scheduled a mystery shopping programme for its dealer network in quarter three to measure standards of customer service. It will take two days to assess each dealer, gathering data for analysis; the results will be actioned in 2016.

Digital marketing

Dickens is also encouraging all non-Pro+ dealers to consider their local business opportunities: if they are selling more than 150 units a year, they will need to employ a dedicated business specialist to ensure the needs of fleets are fully understood and met; if they are selling fewer than 150, they must have a nominated fleet specialist.

“Beyond 2015, we want every dealer to talk with authority on car and van fleet business. That will bring 87 more fleet dealer sales people into the network outside of Pro+,” Dickens says. “Local business is a massive opportunity, especially on vans.”

In a bid to improve visibility within fleet, Renault is focusing its digital marketing more heavily on social media. This also unearthed previously untapped expertise.

“I was taking the team through our plans and one person put his hand up and said ‘I’ve got a degree in social media marketing’; another said ‘I’ve done a course on this’,” Dickens says. “I told them, ‘right, you’ve both got a new job’!”

The fleet team mirrors the dealer network in that everyone has shared responsibility for both cars and vans.

Dickens believes this approach creates additional opportunities to cross-sell cars into van customers and vice versa, but also acknowledges that one downside is that vans require greater specialism. It’s a downside also recognised by Renault’s Paris head office; executives are keen to explore the benefits of creating a standalone van network, but Dickens is far from convinced.

“It would be a massive investment in people, resource and infrastructure, plus what is it that the customer actually wants? Easy access and to deal with people,” he says.

“The majority of fleets have cars and vans and we have conversations about both; if you are separate you alienate half the customer base.”

To fill any potential LCV knowledge gap among dealers, Renault introduced BePro last year, an intranet social media site which enables them to post questions and ask for advice. Customer queries can be answered quickly, either by Renault staff or by other dealers. Converters also have access and can offer their own responses.

“We also use it to share produce and pricing updates and it can even help dealers to reallocate cancelled orders through the network,” Dickens says.

 A key promise from the Pro+ network is to keep customers mobile. Should their van be off-road for any more than 24 hours, a replacement is offered.

However, the breadth of service offered varies by dealer and is dependent on customers’ needs. Dickens points to extended aftersales hours: “We offer this at our dealers but it might be alternate Saturdays or evenings – contracts are bespoke, based on what customers want. We also have pit stop servicing with two-hour diagnosis and like-for-like replacements where possible.

“It’s all part of our Renault business quality commitment. We took some pain to get it instilled four years ago but now it’s up and running it is winning us business.”

He adds: “It’s a differentiator, especially with vans that share chassis, even where we are slightly out on price, because the biggest issue for fleets is off-road time.”

‘We will outpace the market by two-to-one this year’

Renault intends to continue its double-digit growth this year, according to UK managing director Ken Ramirez.

“LCV is tough to predict; growth has been higher than expected,” he says. “We will probably see this year grow by 10-15% – and we will outpace that by two-to-one.”

Ramirez points to a full-year of new Trafic, updates to the Master range, growth from conversions and greater interest in the Kangoo ZE.

“We expect the year to pick up quickly with large fleets and in the second half we will see individual users picking up more; the economic and political environment will affect that,” Ramirez says.

Within the next 18 months Renault will also add a one-tonne pick-up to its range for the first time.

“This is an interesting market. There is a lot of
customising and accessories but it is also a workhorse: we have to have a vehicle that provides all that range, from utilitarian to a fashion statement,” Ramirez says.

Renault’s budget brand Dacia also announced its first commercial vehicle for the UK market, a version of the Duster. Sold through the Renault network, it is expected to be more of a retail proposition than fleet and will sell “in the hundreds, maybe a thousand”, adds Ramirez.

‘A one-stop shop that saves time and money’

Renault’s stand at this month’s Commercial Vehicle Show was packed with converted vans: there was not a base panel van in sight.

The intention was to demonstrate to potential customers the flexibility of its vehicles to be converted to any bodystyle requirement, particularly with its range of front-wheel, rear-wheel and all-wheel drive options, and its ability to manage the conversions process either at its import centre or via a network of approved partners.

Part of the ‘Ready to Work’ campaign, racking and ply-lining can be carried out before the vehicle is supplied, while full conversions such as box vans, dropsides and mini buses can be ordered through Renault’s approved network of 30 converters.

Ken Ramirez, Renault UK managing director, says: “We offer fleets a one-stop shop that saves time and money.”

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