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www.autolive.<strong>co</strong>.<strong>za</strong> Page 2<br />
Editor<br />
Stuart Johnston<br />
stujohn@autolive.<strong>co</strong>.<strong>za</strong><br />
General Manager<br />
Roger Houghton<br />
houghtonr@mwebbiz.<strong>co</strong>.<strong>za</strong><br />
Sales<br />
Bruno Lupini<br />
bruno.lupini@gmail.<strong>co</strong>m<br />
Address<br />
Suite 106B, MISA Centre<br />
12 Fir Street, Northcliff<br />
Johannesburg, 2195<br />
Henri Meistre Leads the<br />
Chinese Charge (Again)<br />
S<strong>co</strong>op<br />
He cut his teeth with the Koreans, he did it at GWM, and now he heads up Geely. A media<br />
release is set to go out today that Henri Meistre has been appointed Managing Director of<br />
Geely South Africa. And those who know the 44-year-old’s track re<strong>co</strong>rd should take note<br />
that Geely is set to be<strong>co</strong>me a meaningful player in the South African car market.<br />
Tel<br />
+27 (0)83 450 9255<br />
Fax<br />
+27 (0)86 505 8957<br />
Website<br />
www.autolive.<strong>co</strong>.<strong>za</strong><br />
© 2012 WCM Media CC<br />
Production<br />
Marketing Support Services<br />
+27 (0)12 346 2168<br />
danie@marketingss.<strong>co</strong>.<strong>za</strong><br />
Layout and Typesetting<br />
Bonita Tuson<br />
Disclaimer<br />
While reasonable<br />
precautions have been<br />
taken to ensure the<br />
accuracy of the advice<br />
and information given to<br />
readers, neither the Editor,<br />
the Proprietors, nor the<br />
publishers can accept<br />
any responsibility for any<br />
damages or injury which<br />
may arise therefrom.<br />
By Stuart Johnston<br />
After the recent launch of the new LC<br />
Cross model in early June, we caught up<br />
with him for an exclusive interview. So<br />
what has he been up to for the past six<br />
months or so<br />
“Late last year I sold out of GWM,<br />
in terms of shares and a directorship<br />
and I helped Teresita van Gaalen in an<br />
advisory capacity at Changan. I’ve also<br />
been on board in an advisory capacity at<br />
Geely for the past <strong>co</strong>uple of months.<br />
“Peter Azzie and Rayhaan Hassim<br />
(the principle shareholders of the<br />
Hallmark Motor Group, which owns<br />
Geely distributorship in this <strong>co</strong>untry<br />
and has 35 motor dealerships of varying<br />
brands throughout South Africa) asked<br />
me to get more involved, and hence my<br />
appointment as MD of Geely SA.<br />
“I think it’s an interesting relationship<br />
as I have a motor retail<br />
business in Midrand, and so I’m very<br />
much retail-orientated. This is a premium<br />
used car business, although I<br />
have had new-car franchises for various<br />
brands, including Citroen and<br />
Renault and Subaru.<br />
The advantage for Geely, as I see it,<br />
is that I’m really a retail guy at heart. I<br />
understand the dealer’s pain, and I used<br />
that word, pain, because at the moment<br />
there is pressure on margins, pressure<br />
on facilities, there’s pressure on rentals.<br />
“The problem today is that to establish<br />
a dealership you can’t just set up<br />
some shade-netting on the side of the<br />
road. There have to be certain standards<br />
and no matter how low the rental is, you<br />
just can’t do it below a certain number.<br />
And the same applies to our existing<br />
Geely dealers right now.<br />
“The MK is on run-out now, so we<br />
have only the LC, the little car, and the<br />
new LC Cross, which is the funky, higher-ride-height<br />
version of the same car.<br />
The LC is definitely a ladies market car,<br />
while the LC Cross’s market is broader.<br />
“You take those low-<strong>co</strong>st cars, and<br />
even if there’s a decent margin on those<br />
cars, how many do you need to sell to<br />
<strong>co</strong>ver the overheads of a small dealership<br />
running at R300- or R400 000<br />
“So, we have lot of work to do there,<br />
to offer our dealers more product, so<br />
they have better absorption on the new<br />
car side. And you have a double whammy<br />
effect because your car-park is tiny,<br />
so you don’t get much workshop and<br />
spares business.<br />
“At Geely, our investment in our<br />
dealerships is low at the moment, but<br />
obviously as you mature you try and<br />
elevate your guys. I did the same thing<br />
in my previous life at GWM. You up the<br />
game slowly.<br />
“Most of our dealers are strong on<br />
the used car side, and I would say it’s<br />
almost a prerequisite, at this stage of<br />
the game we bolt onto that business.<br />
Established mature brands do it the other<br />
way around.”<br />
Does this not have a bad effect, in<br />
that a guy <strong>co</strong>mes in looking for a Geely<br />
and ends up with a well-used BMW, say,<br />
for similar money<br />
“Well, it does! But you know, hopefully<br />
that works for the dealer at the end<br />
of the day and I know, from our point of<br />
view we’d like people to be buying only<br />
our cars. At this stage of the game, making<br />
the dealer viable is probably my most<br />
important issue. Then we need to get our<br />
volume up by, Number One, offering a<br />
product at the right price.”<br />
What about parts back-up<br />
<strong>co</strong>ntinued on page 5