Infiniti's Aussie beachhead

The Infiniti dealership in the English township of Reading is a model for the company's retail outlets in Australia, according to the prestige importer's General Manager, Kevin Snell.

"We're going to move away from the traditional retail experience of 6000 to 7000 square metres," explained Snell.

That means the typical Infiniti dealer will be located on smaller parcels of land, with less new-car stock on hand. There will be perhaps six representative models in the showroom (and presumably representative demonstrators out the back also), but Infiniti Australia is actively discussing with its retailers such concepts as moving sales and parts offsite, to where land values don't have the same impact on pricing and profit.

So, hypothetically, a new-car showroom in the Melbourne suburbs of Toorak or South Yarra might be complemented by a service and spare parts operation in St Kilda.

Snell, speaking with Australian journalists in Britain to sample the company's three launch products, the G37, the M Series sedan and the FX SUV, revealed that the Aussie outlets would largely follow the layout of the Reading dealership —a reception area at the point of entry, with effectively a funnel to the showroom and supporting areas.

Among other reasons for this configuration the dealership's floorplan is aimed at keeping costs down for the 'launch partners', according to Snell. Since the inaugural Infiniti dealers in Australia will be located in upmarket parts of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, the overheads are likely to be steep, given the price of land in those prospective areas (Melbourne's inner south-east, for instance).

"We want our retailers to be profitable sooner than later," Snell elaborated. He sees the money saved by the retailers as money that can be reinvested "in customer service".  The company is very committed to what Snell calls a "more efficient retail model". In the context of the traditional, large dealership facility, he asks rhetorically: "Who's going to pay for that?"

The company is still around two months away from naming its first three Aussie dealers, and where they'll be located, but according to Snell all three should be open and trading prior to the end of September. If a three-dealer network seems a small footprint, when Lexus has four dealers in the Sydney metropolitan area alone, Snell counters that with his argument that the three dealers can draw in buyers across a surprisingly wide territory.

"We can cover 80 to 90 per cent of the market opportunity," he insisted. That's fine for the buying experience — when customers are happy to travel extended distances for the novelty of buying a new car — but what about the drudgery of having the Infiniti serviced? Snell suggests that one way around that is for the retailer to collect the car for servicing from the owner's workplace or home and return it. It's a service that Lexus has long offered its buyers, so it's not without precedent.

As for country customers, Snell accepts that Infiniti might appoint servicing agents in rural areas, but that would be further down the track, if at all. In the meantime, the company will focus on the "80 per cent" of buyers in the major metropolitan areas while it establishes its own foothold.

For the present Infiniti is keeping schtumm concerning the dealers' identities, but Snell says that to qualify for an Infiniti dealership, they must have a "demonstrated track record" in selling into the prestige car market. But that's not to say that Nissan dealers are necessarily excluded.

"Every Nissan dealer has had an opportunity to put his hand up for an Infiniti franchise," says Snell, who believes that the dealers will share the importer's ability to deliver "service, product and a relevant brand".

For the present — and with the launch of the dealer network the best part of six months into the future — issues such as the selling strategy and tactics remain "a work in progress", says Snell, something still being nutted out by the company's retail staff and the launch dealers.

But Snell posits the concept of employing sales staff from non-traditional sales backgrounds — and/or outside the automotive industry. Indeed, he sees the possibility of the sales process being broken in two — a pure reception/greeting function to assess whether the visitor to the dealership is 'just looking' and a more traditional sales role, crunching heads. For the moment however, it's all up for grabs.

While Snell is open to innovation, and even welcomes it, he acknowledges the "clean sheet" approach to establishing the business will only allow him so much freedom. It's imperative to get the major elements of the business right, he recognises, especially if the company is not intending to follow the lead of other prestige brands selling here.

Who is the boss of Infiniti in Australia?
Kevin Snell, at 35, is pretty young for the head of a prestige vehicle importer, but his age belies his experience.

Snell grew up in Melbourne, where he lived his entire life until an eight-year stint with Saab in Sweden, where he met his wife to be.

Saab is a car company he describes as one staffed by "the most passionate people" he has ever encountered. Even now, with Saab facing financial ruin, the staff remain determined to find a way out of the fiscal nightmare, Snell says. In addition to Saab, Snell worked with GM in China also.

Asked whether his new role is particularly challenging, he replies, full of vigour, that he is really enthused and why wouldn't he be? It's an opportunity to start a luxury car brand that’s new to the country; "a clean sheet of paper", to use Snell's words.

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