Turkish dealer group Çetaş Otomoti has appointed Steve Young, managing director of ICDP, to head up its entry into the UK market with an Omoda and Jaecoo dealership in West London.
In a blog post detailing his appointment, Young described the new venture as an opportunity “to get my hands dirty”.
Auto West London in Chiswick will be the first location, but Çetaş Otomoti has mid-term ambitions to scale up the business to become a small group in the South East.
Young said: “When you’re in advisory roles, there is always some degree of frustration that you’re not hands on, able to execute rather than advise.
“Clearly there are risks associated with that – as an adviser, if things don’t work out you can claim that there was nothing wrong with the advice, it was a failure in execution.
“If you’re directly responsible for the execution, there’s nowhere to hide.”
Young said the new business has the advantage of a “supportive investor who has a realistic understanding of the challenges and an OEM partner in Omoda Jaecoo that is highly motivated for us to succeed.
He acknowledges that the location of the first site in Chiswick is usually deemed a “no go” area for private dealer investors due to high operating costs in large metro areas.
The site is sales only, requiring a separate aftersales facility.
Youn said: “As a new dealer brand with a new OEM, we have no established customer base or parc to leverage which will put a heavy emphasis on digital marketing to create awareness.”
With no legacy, Çetaş Otomoti will build an ‘A’ team of people with the skills and attitudes that are needed to support omni-channel retailing.
The IT infrastructure will be developed to support a digitally driven dealer rather than a physical dealership with a digital infrastructure.
Young said: “We can look at facilities at a granular level – what is the right scale and location of each facility to meet a specific set of needs rather than having a ‘cookie-cutter’ approach of traditional dealer facilities, each offering sales and service.
“This is not a case of being different for the sake of being different.
“The evidence is that traditional dealerships are not sustainable in metro areas, that the role of dealerships changes in an increasingly digital customer journey and that new entrant brands take time to establish themselves despite impressive products and competitive pricing.”
“It’s going to mean some long hours, probably some trial and error, but I’m determined to make it work.”
Çetaş Otomoti is Turkey’s largest dealer group and works with brands like Renault, MG, Peugeot, Citroen, Ford, Lexus, Toyota, Dacia, Isuzu, as well as Chery and Jaecoo.
