After a long and diverse career in the used car market, including seven years with Glass’s and five with Fiat Remarketing, Jason King has a wealth of experience and expertise of residual values.

Now at Citroën as manager – wholelife costs and Motability operations, his main objective is to ensure the manufacturer’s models are as suitable as possible for the UK fleet and retail market, while also maximising their appeal on the used car market.

“My role is to draw in the different elements of the business to make sure we have the right models at the right time and that we tell the right people,” says King, who has been in this role for two years.

This includes collating vehicle data from different parts of the business, such as pricing, specifications, residual values and SMR costs.

Once this is done, King can make recommendations for changes to models destined for the UK market, from trim line-up to specification content, exterior design and technology.

To do this effecively, he has to keep up-to-date with what is popular with buyers, what could help improve the total cost of ownership and what will make a vehicle more attractive when it comes to selling it on the used car market.

Data influences design and production

Maintaining good relationships with data suppliers like CAP, Glass’s, KeeResources and MaintBook is also important to King.

This allows him to relay their feedback to Citroën, which may result in changes being made during the design and production processes.

King gets involved in the production process at an early stage; he is now looking at new models at least a year ahead of launch.

“This means the feedback can be implemented, whereas before it may have been too late and a product would have been launched that possibly didn’t do as well in the new and used market as it could have,” he says.

Author: Debbie Wood