face to face with: Des Evans CEO <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus, and Jeroen Lagarde Regional Head Northern & Southern Europe, <strong>MAN</strong> Nutzfahrzeuge AG <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus has set its sights high. Following a hugely successful return to the CV Show, after almost three years away, with orders taken for new and used trucks totalling several million pounds, <strong>Export</strong> & <strong>Freight</strong>’s Helen Beggs has been finding out more. Des Evans CEO <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus 24 Des Evans & Jeroen Lagarde.indd 24 25/05/2011 14:09
She recently came ‘face to face’ with the men at the top – Chief Executive Officer Des Evans, and 53 year-old Jeroen Lagarde, the new Regional Head Northern & Southern Europe, whose aim it is to significantly increase <strong>MAN</strong>’s market share. Des, of course, needs no introduction to our readers, but as for Jereon; he’s a native of the Netherlands who graduated as an engineer in 1983 and later joined the Technical Customer Service Department of Dutch commercial vehicle manufacturers DAF. In 1986, he changed to field services and from 1989 to 1993, Jeroen was Service Manager for DAF Austria GmbH in Wiener Neudorf. At further stages in his career, he also worked for Van Kalmthout Beheer B.V., and TIP Europe and, from 1995, DAF again; first as Service Manager, later as After-sales Manager and finally as Head of After-sales. Thanks to those many years of international experience, especially in the field of aftersales in the commercial vehicles sector, Jeroen is well placed for his new role at <strong>MAN</strong>. Says Jeroen, “My main goal is to create a high level, sustainable business in the region where from a volume perspective our key markets include the UK, Italy, Turkey and Austria, though that is not to say other markets in the region are not important to us, because they are.” In the joint interview with Des and Jeroen, a number of key issues were discussed. Is there a key strategy or a five year plan to drive <strong>MAN</strong> forward Presently we have a 12.7% market share in the UK; our goal is to increase that to 15% and I think that is achievable, but it won’t happen overnight and we are comfortable with that because we don’t want an erratic increase, we want our growth to be steady and sustainable. I think we can manage 15% within the next two to three years. Are the demands of the UK and Irish marketplaces any different than in other countries in which <strong>MAN</strong> operates And how are you meeting those demands There are differences and there are some challenges. In Northern Ireland, for example, some 50% of income is derived from public services, so government cutbacks are bound to impact on businesses. In the Republic, the meltdown of the economy coupled with other issues such as the exchange rate has had a devastating effect and it is going to take years for any sort of recovery there. To support our dealers in Ireland, we have introduced rental and used vehicle products, and those have been quite helpful to them. We have also been able to provide them with the necessary finance as it is very difficult for customers to get any sort of support from the Banks in the current climate. However, we are still a long way from where we want to be in the Irish market; the recovery will be a long term goal. <strong>MAN</strong> Rental has also just been launched into the UK, how do you see that sitting within the UK and NI market and how does your model compare to the also recently Scania Truck Rental operation Unlike some others, we have a seven tonne product in our portfolio which covers the whole range, including 18 tonners, 26 tonners, tractors units – and we have fleet management capabilities, so, for example, operators get daily, weekly and monthly driver and fuel reports, helping customers save money. We have some really smart solutions. Do you see the rental business as incremental business or do you see it replacing retail and trade sales Well, if you look at some of our bigger accounts, you will see that they are spending a lot of money on rentals. Why They have not made any new investments, so they have an older fleet now, but they still need to maintain capacity, resulting in a big rental demand. Looking at our top 20 accounts, they have a permanent rental capacity for six to 12 months and we have now tapped into that market, so our rental business, which accounts for between 10% and 20% of our turnover, is set to grow. Can you elaborate on what approaches you will be taking to help <strong>MAN</strong> dealerships and customers in the coming year Our network is unique in that it is a service franchise, it is a very successful model, the basis of which is our UpTime programme, and we have very attractive performance incentives built into that to help dealerships in financial and other ways, and, of course, our customers ultimately benefit from higher levels of service. Our dealers do not encounter the problems other networks might have because they do not have to stock new or used trucks if they don’t want to as we do the selling, and we also facilitate buy-backs, leaving it won’t happen overnight and we have fleet management facilitate buy-backs, leaving face to face them to focus on after sales support of the highest quality. We also have a fantastic training programme for apprentices and a business academy to train our first line dealer management, such as service, parts and finance managers, even the dealer principals themselves. You have launched the CNG bus into the EEV market, are there any plans to extend this into the truck side of the business And are there any plans to introduce the hybrid electric truck onto the market <strong>MAN</strong> probably has more knowledge of CNG than any other manufacturer. We are selling strongly into the bus sector across mainland Europe because our customers know that we have the best technology, but the biggest problem we have in the UK at present is not the product, not the technology, but the infrastructure. Within the next few weeks we are bringing right-hand drive vehicles into the UK to enable customers to see up close how well they perform – and we know that if their expectations are met they will be investing. We are also working with a company that will offer CNG customers the opportunity to have a stand-alone fuelling point. CNG delivers a 30% reduction in operational costs compared to a conventional bus, so there is enormous potential for us. Where do you see <strong>MAN</strong> in five years’ time Simple: we want to be market leader in the supply of the most profitable truck, with the highest customer satisfaction rate. We really do think that is achievable. Jeroen Lagarde Regional Head Northern & Southern Europe, <strong>MAN</strong> Nutzfahrzeuge AG 25 Des Evans & Jeroen Lagarde.indd 25 25/05/2011 14:09
Change language