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How Irish car brands negotiate with the factories that build them!
342 Plays9 days ago
In this week's episode, we dive into the big reveal of the all-new Alpine A290, launched at Mondello – and yes, it’s as exciting as it sounds.
🚗 Paddy shares his first impressions after getting behind the wheel of the VW ID.3 GTX – does it live up to the GTX badge?
🚙 Mark is driving the 2025 facelifted Suzuki Vitara and has been jet-setting between Prague and London to check out two major launches: the new Skoda Elroq RS, and a very hush-hush look at the next-gen Nissan Leaf (spoilers strictly embargoed until next week!).
🎧 Our special guest is Martin Cardiff, Head of Sales at VW Passenger Cars. Martin brings a wealth of experience from his days in Skoda's factory to shaping VW’s product and planning strategy today. From trim and spec decisions, to price points, to what car colours Irish buyers really want, Martin lifts the curtain on how carmakers tailor their offerings for specific markets. It’s a fascinating listen for anyone curious about what really goes on inside the automotive “chocolate factory.”
Don’t miss this one – it’s packed with insight, first drives, and a look into how the cars we see on the road come to life.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Drivers Republic podcast brought to you in association with Dundeele Motors where more Irish drivers find their next car from a trusted dealership than anywhere else. Why? Because Dundeele's Trusted Dealer Programme means verified dealerships and the kind of backup that matters like warranties and history checks giving you confidence from the very first click.
Paddy's Volkswagen Journey
00:00:19
Speaker
Paddy are we in your old office? We are sitting in my first office in Volkswagen Group Ireland yeah with the beautiful views of Liffey Valley. So when you handed in your resignation, did you send an email from that desk over there? No, I wasn't sitting. I was moved around a few times, actually, as I become, I think I just became gradually less important.
00:00:36
Speaker
And I eventually was down at the lift. i've said They were trying to push you out. Yeah, exactly, exactly. That worked in the end. This is where I started. No, this is where I started. And yeah, it's it's nice to be back here. And um we will, of course, be talking to Martin Cardiff, who's head of sales for Volkswagen passenger cars and we've we've commissioned his office. Yes, I should say it's not because you're you're back in a new job. That's not the reason we're here.
00:01:00
Speaker
So yes, he'll be talking us later on. And what would be very interesting about Martin is, and obviously, yes, he's got a Volkswagen hat on, but he's worked in Skoda, started off his career working basically as a mechanic's hand. And he will give you an insight into if you're wondering, you know, how, why and how is the price of my new car, whether it's Volkswagen or otherwise, he'll kind of explain the process.
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, because I mean, I think there is a perception that, oh, cars are just expensive in Ireland because, you know, they're trying to make loads of money, etc. In fact, it turns out probably cars in Ireland are expensive.
00:01:32
Speaker
in fact, little bit cheaper than they are in other markets because there's so much taxation. But also he sort of pulls back the curtain and shows us you know how how many years are involved in the planning of a car and what exactly is required to ah to get a car onto the Irish market. So an interesting chat and and a lengthy discussion with him coming up later on.
Will Scrappage Scheme Boost EV Sales?
00:01:52
Speaker
So as we often start the podcast with the news, um ah any news Paddy, any news? Well, I mean, if we ah one thing piece which I saw ah yesterday, which I thought was interesting, was Minister Darragh, Prime Minister for Transport, who is discussing bringing in a scrappage scheme again for EVs this time, because they've acknowledged that ah EV sales haven't been quite what they had muted historically. You know, we were supposed to have a million...
00:02:20
Speaker
EVs in a row by 2030. It's going to be nothing like that. We're about 15% market share for EVs currently. And I think everybody kind of accepts that now. Yeah, i was a bit of a fictitious figure, but there was one they they wanted to, some headlines on. so this is if you are trading an ICE car in for an EV. Yeah, they haven't, it was a piece in the journal yesterday, they haven't given any major details on it, but they...
00:02:41
Speaker
and But he's acknowledging that, OK, we probably will get to maybe 600,000 EVs by 2030. but and But has said, look, we we do need to keep incentives coming and maybe we do need to look at something like a scrapper scheme. And he says that he has his team currently looking at that right now. So that is and that is an interesting one.
00:03:01
Speaker
Welcome news. ah Started off the week at
Alpine A290 Launch Insights
00:03:04
Speaker
Alpine. They had a launch of their new A290 car in Mandela, but they also brought the a one ten along too. I did see your lanyard which had you down as Naby on Cars YouTube and also the yeah Drivers Republic podcast. They just forgot one of the other hosts.
00:03:19
Speaker
for Well, you don't really go to openings of envelopes. Yeah, no, but I would have you know what, I would have taken a day off for that one. I would have taken ah I would have got a given a sort of, ah a one of my fingers, I think, possibly to drive that one. Was it as good as as we hoped it would be? yeah Yes, so there's there's a few different versions. I think i think there's five different trims in total. um And there's a, the one I was driving was the 217 brake horsepower version.
00:03:44
Speaker
So you have, So there's a GT at the start of the range. 180 brake horsepower. Is that a sort of... That's 36,690, including grants. I'm really surprised by the price of that. And is that losing any of the jazzy spec or is it... Well, so on top of that, you have a GT Performance. There's a GT Premium.
00:04:01
Speaker
And then there's a GTS. And then there's a Premier Edition. I think there's about 1,500 of them being built in the world. Do they have one there? No, they didn't. It was the GTS I drove. So the Premier Edition is €44,700.
00:04:16
Speaker
But if you're genuine you genuinely want one of them, I wouldn't hang around. Now, I was only recently in the Renault 5. You and I did a podcast sitting in the Renault 5 recently. I loved it. Great car, great handling. How does this compare? And also, is there a point in going that extra 10 grand plus?
00:04:34
Speaker
I think that's the only reason you get one of these cars. I think to get that, and I haven't tried the 36.9 version yet. nine version But I feel ah nicely specced Iconic 5 will be close enough to that for everyday use.
00:04:50
Speaker
There's only an extra 30 brake horsepower, let's not forget. Now, it's not the same car, essentially. ah the Steering's heavier. Steering's heavier. Suspensions being changed. Brake feel is great. um It makes noises. The version I drove with the 217 brake horsepower torque steers and intentionally.
00:05:08
Speaker
It looks very good as well. Yeah. um It is. and it but But again, you know, and and I was talking to to another journalist ah the other day i about it and and I was saying, you know what, would you see the point of He just said, look, out for me, there's enough crack in an in a Renault 5. Yeah.
00:05:24
Speaker
to And, you know, yeah it's a very considered decision to spend that 10,000 euro more, but you could also... I think a good way to describe it is, and we're in the right building, it's like a Golf GTI in a random five versus a Golf Oar.
00:05:37
Speaker
Yeah. And some people just didn't feel the need to go for the Oar. I would have been one of those people who I always thought there's enough fun in a Golf GTI to not necessarily need an Oar, but there you And the older I get, I definitely believe that. And look, the Oar is a special car. The Alpine is a very special car. um And, you know, it's going to be very, very affordable to run for what it is.
00:05:57
Speaker
So with this car, where does one buy one? Is it? So the only place you can buy currently will be Windsor Motor Mall, which is where Joe Duffy would be, and W used to be, which is Charlestown Shopping Centre.
00:06:08
Speaker
And I had it in my head that this car would sort of start with at least a four, not a five. So the the pricing is is a bit of a surprise. Yeah. are Are they expecting to shift a few of these?
00:06:19
Speaker
They didn't really get into numbers for that. know the Renault 5 seems to be selling quite well by our standards. um They're definitely well into the multiple hundreds. Are they already? terms pre-orders and stuff, yeah. um I don't know, honest with you, but it look, i don't see it selling, is it a 50 unit a year car in Ireland?
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah, tricky from one dealership. And if someone did comment, oh, a whole 217 brake horsepower. You know, brake horsepower is just part of the story. It's weight, it's driving feel, it's steering, it's suspension. it's It's not just about that brake horsepower. drive the car on the circuit?
00:06:53
Speaker
Couldn't drive the car. You could drive the A110 on the circuit, which I thought was strange. Why was that? I don't know. was because of charging? I don't know. Now, it ist I think on a good day, it's a going to be a 200-kilometer car.
00:07:06
Speaker
I just think, why launch a car, add a circuit? I know. And then have you drive. No, I know. Have one that's just doing that. So I didn't even bother driving the A110. I've driven before and I just didn't have time. I was like, look, I'm here to have a look at the A290. The a one ten you know, is that, again, if you want one, how does one get one? So there's a facelift version of that coming. It's pretty much on the way. But if you want the outgoing version, which is not that different, and they do have them and ah they will be slightly cheaper. I think the new version is going to be not far off 100 grand.
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah, I've never driven the car, but I believe it's joyous. It is, yes. How would you compare it? Well, me then. 911-ish comparison? It's like an MX-5 Meta 911. Wow. child. french French love child.
00:07:49
Speaker
That's like yeah a French mistress came along and the A110 was born. ah The daddy was a 911 and the lovely French lady was beautiful MX-5. I know you were off to see the Nissan Leaf, but you can't talk about that. Can't. Prior to that, you were over in
Skoda Elrock ORS Discussion
00:08:06
Speaker
Skoda. I was in Skoda.
00:08:07
Speaker
you to In their Prague. And the Elrock ORS. Yeah. VRS, if you want to annoy Ray Ledy, but the Elrock ORS. Let's! and We've, but you know, we've talked about these RS EV versions before. I wasn't a massive fan of the Enyak RS. I thought it just was a bit insipid and let the badge down a small bit. That's just my opinion.
00:08:31
Speaker
Elrock is a smaller, lighter EV. probably works because it is smaller and lighter compared to the Enyak RS. I'd kind of be along the same lines as on that. It's 335 brake horsepower. It's loads of torque. It's dual-motored. Obviously, it's all-wheel drive. To be honest with you, there I haven't put my video yet because that is also embargoed and I can't talk about driving dynamics on that till next week's episode either. I can just say it's still a very quick Skoda.
00:08:56
Speaker
Well, we can talk about the already existing Alrock because I drove that a couple of weeks ago and I found that handling-wise that was really quite good for for that type of vehicle. I felt you it's about 200 kilos lighter than an Enyaq and I thought you you could feel that. Any indication on pricing yet? Are you allowed to talk about that? Pricing would be €54,000 which compared to Sportline is only about three.
00:09:18
Speaker
And with the usual zany colours. you get the Mamba Green. All right. There's a grey, there's a matte grey colour, which is very nice. You can't car wash it, you can't park it under trees. There's lots of trans conditions with matte colours, but it does, oh, I liked it.
00:09:33
Speaker
But in order to get the grey, the matte grey in Ireland, you have to get a Max Pack. Max Pack. Yeah, it it has like head up display, I think, and fancier lights, whatever. But and that car pushes it beyond 60 with that paint.
00:09:47
Speaker
You lose the grant. Wow. No. So essentially, and because you've the Max Pack as well, your Mac Gray turns into currently an €8,000 edition. So for now, Skoda Ireland will not be offering the LROC RS in that Mac Gray.
00:10:00
Speaker
You had a look at some of the heritage of RS as well. Yeah. Not huge level. Again, didn't have huge levels of brake horsepower because it doesn't need it because it's light. Cracking noise of it around the track. um They also had an Enyaq or, well, it's it's it's an Enyaq rally car. Essentially, they're trying to do what they did with the Fabio RS with the Enyaq. So 300 kilos lighter.
00:10:24
Speaker
You couldn't drive that. It was a a racing driver was driving for you. ah He was on his third day, I think, of doing laps of the test track. So he was very comfortable with it, probably doing it while he was nodding off and had a lovely, note like not a rally car noise, off but had a very distinguished noise off it on the outside of the car.
00:10:40
Speaker
And is this something that they think might be a thing, electric EV rallying? I think it's just, well, probably will. Look at Formula it possibly will be someday, but I think it was just a scour of flexing, showing what they can do. And am I right in thinking you may have taken a bit of an honour for the Irish...
00:10:59
Speaker
Marcus. So the people who run the track aren't Scoda people, but it is it is a Volkswagen approved test track. So they have things like rumble strips and uneven surfaces and they have 65% gradients that we drove up in an Elrock.
00:11:13
Speaker
And myself and Neil Briscoe, who's not a small man, you know, he's not vertically challenged. He's tall and broad. He won't mind me saying that. yeah He was in the back seat beside me and this thing was taking off at a far higher pitch than you would, for example, be in a plane going on your holidays.
00:11:28
Speaker
ah So the two of us looking at each other as we're wondering, is this thing going to topple backwards? ah and And it didn't. But an EVs are meant to be brilliant to it because they have much torque. So theyre they're better. But they also use this area for paramedics. So they bring ambulance drivers in to show them if they're kind of sometimes...
00:11:44
Speaker
Again, because they're like, OK, they're swimming up a mountain. Can we go there? Will the vehicle cope? Will it be able to get back down? They use this test track to be able to show them, no, your vehicle, you can. The only one that they do struggle with, apparently, is the Mercedes Sprinter ambulance.
00:11:57
Speaker
and The nose of a catches coming down the gradient because it's just so long. I think most cars nose catch on that gradient. It's so steep. um So that was fun. But yeah, they'd set up a little circuit and there was a couple of cones involved and then a parking manoeuvre and you to reverse into a space. And all these German journalists were all high-fiving each other. We're getting like 58 seconds, 59 seconds.
00:12:19
Speaker
And in Iraq, little bit tired, ah and on my second attempt did it in 48 seconds. Mark Noble, congratulations. And apparently one of the actual driver drivers did it in 43. So I was like, that's all right. Very respectable.
00:12:32
Speaker
I did clip a cone on the way out, but I don talk about that i was done at this point. a time a doesn't That doesn't count. So when Alrock Oros lands, are we getting it soon? I'd imagine it'll be a race soon, yeah. So the video will be out, I think, Wednesday. have a lot of burgers in my head the moment. But ah yeah, it might look like you can order an Elrock now.
00:12:51
Speaker
so if you So obviously, you know, this is coming out on a Friday night. if you are Your video will be on Wednesday. So driving impressions you will be able to speak
Nissan Design Talk with Giovanni
00:13:00
Speaker
of later in the week. And I'll be on cars on YouTube. Yeah, same for the Nissan Leaf. They won't be driving impressions. That was a static studio film. But I did get to talk to the vice president of design for Nissan. And ah his name is Giovanni.
00:13:12
Speaker
And he's from California, not Italy. because You think with that name? I was gesticulating just there. I was wondering what that was. I thought you were saying hurry up. So he's head of design in Nissan. He's worked there long time. He's worked on GTRs. He's designed the Aria.
00:13:28
Speaker
Cool guy as usual. Very nice suit with runners. That's how car designers generally dress. But for some car designers are a bit up themselves Paddy. They can be fond of themselves for sure. This guy was just a bit cooler. He was happy to chat, talk about growing up in the 90s which kind of inspired the design of the car. So look we'll talk a about it more next week. I was waxing lyrical last week about the Cooper Bourne VZ, which was a very lovely thing. and This week I've done the perfect back-to-back in that I've been driving the Volkswagen 93 GTX.
00:13:57
Speaker
but You've driven both as well. and Something softer or a little bit less? Now, we've said GTX is not not a GTI, but I found i found now over the course of the week that the Cooper just felt that little bit sharper. Everything is pretty much the same, except, and I still haven't figured this out, I got it wrong. The ID.3 GTX has ah bigger torque figure.
00:14:19
Speaker
Does it? Yes. It has 565, I think. Why? Versus, and I don't know why. But I was trying to check it out, but um we should have. We've actually ah asked, we could ask Martin Cardiff.
00:14:33
Speaker
But am yeah, there's ah there's a larger torque figure. Everything else appears to be the same, but larger torque figure on the ID.3 GTX. Head-up display on the model I've driven, which wasn't on the VZ.
00:14:45
Speaker
and It's also cheaper, even at the top spec, 38 and bit versus 40. Yeah, and there is two different trims on the GTX. There's a GTX Performance and a Yeah, the Performance Plus.
00:14:57
Speaker
Performance it Plus, that's it, yeah. Yeah, so, um, so, you know, I think, as you say, Volkswagen can't show their hand as much as Cooper can because they know there's other, they have to make a GTI. Not of a 93. But even, even like, the thing about the VZ as well is that it's so subtle because they all look quite nice, the Cooper Bournes. They all have generally fairly big wheels. The Bourne VZ, you know, at first glance in a car park, you wouldn't think that it's necessarily the the venomous one, which it is.
00:15:26
Speaker
But i yeah, it's strange to drive two cars which are so similar. and But i I would say i was possibly drawn a little bit more to the Cupra by the end of the week. Neither one would be absolutely fine. However, that price is just very difficult to, you know, it's a few thousand euro in the difference. So that it is hard to do. And I know that the ID.3 GTX is selling very well in the mix.
00:15:51
Speaker
of ID.3 so suddenly it's because it's such good value that it's becoming one of the dominant specs. We keep talking about it. What have you how of been driving domestically at the moment? Domestically I currently have a Suzuki Vitara.
Suzuki Vitara & Honda Jazz Review
00:16:06
Speaker
I've driven that car. and What did you think of it?
00:16:08
Speaker
I thought it was a no, you know, sort of an able car. It felt it felt a little bit dated in parts. yeah into Interior wise, it felt a little bit dated, um but ah but a very capable SUV, you know, very much an antidote to the usual where, you know, there's a lot of cars, a lot of SUVs in particular now, especially EVs and ones which are just feeling very the same.
00:16:29
Speaker
So it was nice in a way to get into something that felt a little bit more analogue. Well, that is the word in many ways. Like, for example, whether you want to change your ADAS settings on most new cars these days, it'll be in the screen. But in the Vitara, it's on the little needle that is used for resetting the odometer. It's very old school and in that sense. It has a manual gearbox.
00:16:50
Speaker
I found into fifth gear, the way the leg of the gearbox is designed a little bit strange and quirky. You feel like you're going into third when actually it is fifth. um Very, very loaded with standard specs. So even the standard, like all versions, for example, get blind spot.
00:17:06
Speaker
I think the starting price is 31.5. You can go up to 35 for the the full hybrid, which has less power than the mild hybrid. Yeah, I saw that on the website and I wasn't really sure why that was a case. So it has a bit more battery power, I suppose. Yeah, I guess it's more EV grunt, but I'm not sure how much of that is available at any given time. but this reallyt like so though The interior space really isn't designed for today's mobile phones, for example. there's nowhere to drop your phone. The cup holders are just about big enough. The door bins are good.
00:17:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's an anonymous enough thing as well. yeah and you You go into a credit card park looking for it and you're like, where is it? bottom But yeah, look, for some people it's going to tick an awful lot of boxes and you know that they're well built. They last really well. Reliability, they only come behind the likes of Lexus and those huge UK surveys of reliability.
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah, because there well there's this big Toyota Lynx there, historically as well. So, yeah, I think so. So, Honda Jazz for me next week. and You've been in that. Like that. My subtitle on YouTube is Honda Jazz, not just for grannies.
00:18:04
Speaker
Which is true. Yeah, exactly. It's it's a little bit expensive, though. Like all Hondas. Now, there are two more versions of the Civic coming this year to make the Honda more affordable. It's about 48. There will be two lesser trims. and The Jazz, I don't know if that will be the case um because there's already kind of enough different models.
00:18:21
Speaker
and It is a little bit expensive, but you know what? A new Yaris, which is now only available in hybrid, is €28,000. So I don't know if it's massively under-competitive. Cars are expensive. Cars are expensive. And again, you're getting an awful lot of stuff, including the automatic gearbox.
00:18:34
Speaker
It has that little um magic seat. Very cool. So basically, you can push up... the seat, a bit like, almost like when you have to put your your chair on top of your desk in school.
00:18:45
Speaker
You can do that with the rear bench in a Honda Jazz. And if you want went to IKEA in such a small car, I'm not saying you could fit a bed in it now, but if you were buying like tall, bulky, but not not really wide items. Shelves or something. Yeah, shelves or like a nice, big, huge plant, you'd fit it in the back of a Honda Jazz.
00:19:04
Speaker
um So as always, the price car version was the highest spec and all that. um a kind of CVT gearbox Honda do weird things with their gearboxes they're like just see what else I don't love a CVT gearbox ever like in the Civic for example the engine never actually drives the wheels bit like e-power from Nissan so yeah they're they're but look they're again ah very reliable car as as I drove by them there this morning Honda the power of dreams it's good slogan I think Coming up after the break, we are going to talk to Martin Carleff, who's head of sales of Volkswagen passenger cars. And he's going to be a fund of information on just what it takes to bring a car and a car to the Irish market.
00:19:44
Speaker
And just to give a bit of context, yes, he works here now and he's kind of in that sort of, that sounds very business-like role, but he he got his hands dirty at 14 years of age. So he he's been in the car business a long time.
Martin Cardiff's Automotive Insights
00:19:55
Speaker
Welcome to the Drivers Public podcast brought to you in association with Dundeele Motors where more Irish dealers find their next car from a trusted dealership than anywhere else. Why? Because Dundeele's trusted dealership programme means verified dealerships and the kind of backup that matters like warranties and history checks giving you confidence from your very first click.
00:20:14
Speaker
ah Welcome back to episode three everybody. Good morning Paddy, good afternoon Paddy. Good morning Mark. And we are back in Liffey Valley again. And this week we're joined by Martin Cardiff, who's head of sales for Volkswagen passenger cars in Ireland. Martin, hello.
00:20:29
Speaker
Paddy, Mark. Thanks for having me. So today we want to talk about something which I think a lot of people would have an interest in, and it's the process involved in bringing a car to the market in Ireland. So, you know, often we see, OK, we see a new car in the forecourt,
00:20:45
Speaker
There's a new car launched and that's the very end of the process. So we've, so, but there's lots and lots of stages in advance of that. So we've asked Martin to come on and join us today because Martin obviously is head of sales for Volkswagen brand is is in charge of of all of the sales aspect, but he's also done several roles in your career ah relating to product as well. First of all, Martin, tell us a little bit about your own career so far, ah you know, some history on on what where you've worked previously.
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah, so Head of Sales in this company since February. um Joined, join let's say, the Volkswagen Group back in 2005. I would have been interned for Skoda After Sales.
00:21:30
Speaker
ah Working for William Lee, who's who's who's the Head Sales in Cia Cooper now. and Then I finished college in 2006 and got a call from Ray, Ray Leddy, who you you both know. Friend of the show. um To apply for a job and applied for a job, worked then with Ray and Colin and Skoda, doing all things sales, planning, products, marketing, everything. There's only three of us.
00:21:54
Speaker
At the time the brand was trying to get into the top ten, so it was was a very different brand then, but you got to do everything. So Spence... Was that pre-Volkswagen? Yeah, it was MDL World. So we would have been in motor distributors. um So there there would have been all the brands that they had. So Mazda, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen um would have been on the nice road, Longmore Road. So um got to see a lot, experience a lot.
00:22:18
Speaker
um Like i owe a lot of to Ray and and Colin for showing me the ropes back then because um prior to that I would have been, like I started off in the car industry like when I was about 14, like after school. What were you doing? I was working an independent garage and it's called O'Connor's Garage in Balcony. So I would have been,
00:22:38
Speaker
ah mechanics aid let's say um i got a job there started off fixing or not fixing washing teleporters that came off a building site um fantastic and put the housing for three days and then um jim and morgan o'connor who who run the garage they just kind of took me under their wing and at the weekends and the midterm breaks and all i would have been shown the ropes um so i would have gone in from washing teleporters, washing cars, to changing tires, to changing punctures, changing brake pads by the end of it, servicing cars.
00:23:11
Speaker
Finished school, went off to college. um DIT, Bolton Street did automotive management technology. And then through that got into MDL on an internship. And that's how I well landed in here. 20 years since my internship this year, 19 years with the company, with with the Volkswagen Group, let's say, it would have been MDL previously, but then Skoda for nine years did, what did do in Skoda? I did sales, product and planning, and I would have seen product and planning from the private importer side to the national sales company side. um
00:23:46
Speaker
Then went on the road, Aerie Sales, um where travels, travels every corner of Ireland. um Then had a stint in the factory, which was an eye-opening kind of stint. I remember it when you went to that. What did you do in the factory? So I spent nine months there.
00:24:02
Speaker
i For the first three months, was in central planning. So I was in an office with, I think there was 12 people in the office I sat in. There would have been 12 in two other offices. I was in mid-term planning, let's say, for the first three months where...
00:24:15
Speaker
You just sell the volume planning all day long. You're learning new techniques, seeing what markets are doing. um That was in 2012. So Ireland was in the middle of recession. So you're seeing things going on in other markets. um So you you were living in Prague at this time? was living in Prague, like commuting to Malada, Boslava. About an hour's drive, killing the traffic. an hour's drive, um which, like there's so much traffic coming out from Prague to Malada. was doing it every day. and and um Yeah, just it was just a great experience in central planning. Moved over to international sales, so in the sales region.
00:24:48
Speaker
um It's kind of deputized country managers responsible for Germany, Spain and Southern Europe in terms of the smaller islands. So they kind of, there was Jurgen and Manuel who were the country managers, as they kind of took me under the wing. I would have been 26, 27 at the time and they just kind of let me run with the smaller markets to kind of see what we could do there.
00:25:12
Speaker
And how was it seeing things from the factory's perspective, obviously having just seen it from one perspective, you know, changing, seeing it from the other side, you know, what did you learn from that? Yeah, like at the time, like I was on the, you might remember the Rapid, the Rapid Launch Committee.
00:25:30
Speaker
and remember I remember always having a keen eye for Ireland, trying to get the market instruction plan right on that, but having all these other European countries. So you're literally trying to take five cars from Italy and five cars from Spain, three cars from Germany to make, okay, let's try and get the cars in for October for Ireland. And then getting it in the neck from all the other regions saying, like what are you doing? You're looking after Ireland. So you were robbing Peter to pay the padding. Yeah, exactly.
00:25:58
Speaker
So you got to see that. And and like at the time, the Spanish market, went upside down. And like we had gone, the Irish care market had crashed in 2009. Spain was like 2011, 2012, think. And they went from 900,000 cars a year to 400,000 cars a year.
00:26:15
Speaker
So certain things that I would have picked up from being in the office and being in meetings and doing analysis, I was able to translate or or use across in sales Europe and other things I would have picked up on that, oh well why don't we try this, they've done this. So ah in terms of like some of the learnings from the bigger markets that you'd never get to see um because there could be the top eight markets or top five markets, they get a bit more deeper exposure and stuff so you got to see all that. and but At the time there was a superb, I think it was a facelift plan again, would have been looking at that where they're they were literally trying to make sure that
00:26:54
Speaker
the project made sense from a business point of view and it's like some of those simply clever additions. So sit sitting in a two day workshop where there was I think 40 or 50 people divided into groups deciding, you know, someone deciding should there be an umbrella in the car or should it not because it might save it 15, 20 euros. So there's all that sort of stuff that was...
00:27:14
Speaker
I have a question about this. um Just sorry, just keep trying to remember to say close. So I often mention this in videos because in the new LROC, for example, and I know that's not your problem anymore, essentially, but there used to be a rubber handle in the boot lid. And I noticed in in the LROC, it's gone and they've they've moved it to the top of the the hinge, basically, yeah which kind of defeats the purpose because you need to be now taller to reach it.
00:27:35
Speaker
So there is like, is that an argument with accountants or are you directly dealing with accountants in that role or? Yeah, some of it can be down to costs. Some it could be changing consumer behaviour.
00:27:48
Speaker
It'll be that people aren't getting taller. They'll just to be to you essentially to come out say, this is the way it is going to be. And it could be they could chop something out or put something in because of it. um It just depends on on on the project itself.
00:27:59
Speaker
There's a lot of variables, a lot of movement components that I saw over there where it was like, okay, they couldn't do this alloy wheel because it was only they're only going to do 6,000 units of that alloy wheel in that year. So therefore they had to scrap it or increase the installation rate to make it work. So there's that sort of stuff the that...
00:28:17
Speaker
you forget to think about really when you're ah in the market um because thankfully we don't have to deal with that level of detail. But um yeah, it was eye opener over there in terms of in terms of that sort of stuff. um And no doubt having that inside knowledge from the other side helps you in your career here in Evalu then because you know, you've better insight into how it's actually going to work in the factory. Yeah, so um I would have come back, came back to role of area sales and then shortly after I moved over to Volkswagen in 2015 to planning manager position and I would have used everything, almost everything that ah but I did in the factory in terms of putting putting our argumentation forward, our analysis forward, just because you're used to
00:28:58
Speaker
used to seeing the argumentation and the slides and everything from the markets about why do they need X, y and z And you're then going, what do we need for this person to agree to that? um Like for instance, so what you need for for um this market to agree to swap in 400 units to pull that the production forward from, like to shift production around to make sure that we have enough cars in September on the model that's that's running well.
00:29:24
Speaker
in case we run out. and So there's all those those kind of bits and pieces, but also when you're putting together and product measures, it's its kind of you have your wish list and then you you you kind of get a feeling as to, okay, what might the factory earn off this equipment that you can say, just just get us this and and fight for a higher discount and and you put together the business case. So you get to see little bits like that and use them um every day. But it would have yeah gave me great footing.
00:29:51
Speaker
along with the the i essay that the learnings that we had in the role. When I was in Skoda, Paterson Muskie was a a factory um foreign service employee who would have set up a Volkswagen or Skoda product and planning at the time. and So I would have learned from there. So that that helps me in the role of of planning manager and then to progress into the role of head of product and planning. I'm interested, would you have advice for someone who's in you know this career or indeed any career about going on a foreign assignment? Because it seems that you got an awful lot of benefit from it.
00:30:22
Speaker
So seeing, you know, whether you work for Volkswagen or Siemens or whoever it is, is there a real benefit in going and seeing their side of things as well? Yeah, without a doubt.
00:30:35
Speaker
Ireland is unique in itself. um But to even going over on the, we would regularly fly over to the UK to see how things are done over there and you see like, oh, they do this a bigger market, 10 times our size.
00:30:45
Speaker
and You can get learnings from two days, but you can get more learnings from three years. Yeah. I would highly recommend whatever you do. Get the experience abroad if you can, if the company you work for offers it and come back and use it and apply it on a day-to-day basis. Because some of it is you can use in terms of the, let's say, the style in which you do things.
00:31:07
Speaker
that's That's like in terms the approach you can take. The other side is... you can also use it as a as an argument with ah you get more credibility with the factory i've been in your shoes i've seen what that means how about we just skip the chase and yeah call it call it where we want it the the errors in scoda hq are particularly long is that true yeah yeah so like it's yeah you're you're what's your typical work day there and what's what's expected of you i did long hours over there yeah um more so in sales europe um because you just had major deadlines um
00:31:37
Speaker
I would have been over there by myself, so I wouldn't have had an issue doing a 10 hour a day. i was doing probably 10 hour days plus the commute and then going home and you'd wake up at early in the morning and think of something before breakfast. um sort of So you were kind of living the situation.
00:31:52
Speaker
um you're over there essentially giving it given at your all. So, yeah, there would have been the wooden days where it would have been 10 hours, it could have gone into 12. You just, you kind of just immerse yourself into it. Sounds like you go to SCOTA boarding school and then you come back with with the knowledge. Yeah, no, but ah it was great. um The people over there were fantastic. um Culturally, I'll be that, you know, they're therere they're central Europe. There's like a history of like from the the west and from the east um adopted, probably struggled probably in the first two months in terms of adopting to the culture because I was working an office where there was, I think there was three people speaking English.
00:32:28
Speaker
um So i was trying to talk, i communicate on a day day going like, how do I access this? How do access that? But then when you go into sales Europe from the central the planning side, everyone spoke English, everyone spoke German.
00:32:40
Speaker
So it was very different. um But yeah, it was great. I learned on a recent Scudad trip, if you want to say cheers to Czech person, it sounds like you're saying nice driveway. So just say nice driveway really fast and that's how you say cheers. So look, the reason we we asked you on today is really just to learn as much as you can share with us about the process of bringing a car to
Car Launch Challenges in Ireland
00:33:04
Speaker
the market. Because because you've done all the roles, you've done product, you've done planning, you're now head of sales.
00:33:09
Speaker
So I suppose set the scene for us, if you like. If we take any car, for example, say the Tayron, which is out now, for example, or or or the current model Tiguan, how far back, A, are you seeing it?
00:33:25
Speaker
and i You know, I remember from working here those those those days where you would go and, have your mobile phone taken off, you've been brought into a room and shown around, you know, years ahead of of the products. So talk us through the very conceptual stage of, right, you you get a phone call, like, it could can it be kind of be years in advance or or is it months or or what is the general stage? so You'd kind of, you'd see, well, you wouldn't see the car. You'd know there was a certain type of car coming. It would have a project name.
00:33:55
Speaker
So they don't call it the name? It could be A14793, something random like that. Doesn't make, yeah, doesn't make sense. And from that, you'll understand, okay, that's an A hatchback or that's something that's coming in.
00:34:07
Speaker
So you'd learn, okay, that's 2026. That's the volume they expect. There's a price guideline. So you see that early out, five years out, let's say. Then within three years, things got start getting more serious on the car. About two and a half years in, you'll see a clay model of the car, usually if it's a new a new completely new model, or you'll see facelifts.
00:34:26
Speaker
But that's kind of shrinking, that timeline is shrinking now where it's realistically two years, you get to you get to see nearly the finished article. um You get to go over to yeah where you're handing your phone and you have the security guards watching you and you and you you walk around, you get a full product presentation on it. show um and then But you would have planned in the previous year based on all the documents that were provided, um what the sense of volume was for that for that model. um So after you see the car, you get to feel, okay, yeah.
00:34:54
Speaker
And that's that then allows you to go into... um an integrated planning round, which is a three year planning round where you you dig into the detail by by the pricing of the car, where it needs to be positioned, where the OEM or the factory would like to have positioned and where you would like to position it as a market based on based on history and based on how how the brand operates. um So that piece is that's yeah a lengthy process. I remember, i think it was 2016, 2017, with one of the facelift bizats, we had 16 iterations of ah of ah of a pricing round because we were deciding at that time every piece of equipment and trying to get it to make sense for us from a price positioning point of view and for the factory.
00:35:39
Speaker
you see the car, so five years out, you you usually find out there's a coming, three to two and a half years out, you you see the car, but you will have got a flavour as to what the potential of that car is, and then that's honed in, and and every year then you would revise that planning based on Has the market introduction changed?
00:35:58
Speaker
Has it moved forward? Has it moved back? Has the market changed because of that? um Or is there something that the the market is doing differently in terms of, has has consumer behavior changed? Is there move towards PHEV as an example? Is there move away?
00:36:11
Speaker
um So you then have to change your mix planning, which can influence your pricing um and it can influence what you offer. So it's it's quite a rigorous process, but it takes about takes about two, two and a half years, I'd say, realistically.
00:36:23
Speaker
When you're talking about negotiating with factories on prices, because this comes up a lot when I'm asked about multiple brands, how down to the wire can it go in terms of, particularly for the Irish market, which is a little bit trickier with VRT and everything else, and can you be negotiating, like, a car is going officially on sale next week, could you be still today on a Friday trying to... Yeah, like big influencer is is like confirmation of of the CO2 value. So once it's been homologated, that happens at the last hour.
00:36:54
Speaker
um As in like yeah you'll have a preliminary information based on based on what they estimate the CO2 to be before before test as an example. um So then when the car gets homologated, you get the final CO2 values, as an example.
00:37:06
Speaker
That could mean the car jumps up a band in VRT and suddenly like the volume of the car might completely go from, 800 units units a year because 3% VOT has been added. So that can happen at the very last hour. That has delayed market instructions, that's delayed pricing announcements. it's it's We've had cars on the way where they've been like invoiced and ni get and you're trying to say, well, actually, this doesn't work now because the CO2s are different when we add on VOT. So but in an night it can happen. In an ideal world, it's you have it at least three months out. You will have had a few pricing approval stages.
00:37:42
Speaker
So would have gone to a pricing committee, been signed off, say, eight months out, there might have been a change where they might have said, OK, we have to remove this equipment or we have to add this equipment. to So that that could be so could you then say, OK, can we get an 18 inch wheel option to bring down? Yeah.
00:37:57
Speaker
So it's that fine tuning all the time. Yeah, that happened. that like even that model Even right now, there's a model year change where um there may be an alloy wheel change that is more aerodynamically efficient basically to to to avoid a car going up a tax branch to keep it competitive in pricing. So that goes on um every year but also in every... And is that add a huge workload compared to 10 years ago? might have just been, look, that's the price. We'll look at it again in six months' time. there Yeah, there is, there is like, compared to compared to, like, if I look at it when I, compared to, let's say, 10 years ago, um we would have had a lot of
00:38:33
Speaker
we would have been able to decide every piece of equipment in a car. and there's a lot of kind like There's a lot of, in terms of complexity reduction because the reality is cars have to get to market faster now. Consumer demands are changing that.
00:38:44
Speaker
and So right now, what what say what what um the factory are doing now or the OEM are doing now is like they have a ah strong EU basis spec, which 90% of the time that could be your, let's say that could be your life trim line because it's got such well equipment. They've decided, okay, every car has this across Europe.
00:39:01
Speaker
And then they offer um packages, which usually have, there could be three or four pieces of of equipment in that package um and they could offer that for, let's say 70% of its price in order to entice you to to put it into the standard equipment um to give it a better list price, but also better adjusted um equipment value.
00:39:21
Speaker
um And yeah, that kind of, that process has meant it's more streamlined, but it is labour intensive. And has it hurt trims like Orline, which have the bigger wheels, you know, the heavier cars? The CO2 factor, yes.
00:39:35
Speaker
that That can, it can, in some cases, like, Like for example, Touring or the car was brought in with the most efficient alloy wheel, let's say. It was achieving, I think, 5% VRT, but the alloy wheel that was selling in the end was the 7% VRT alloy wheel, so drove it up because customers at that price point were like, okay, I want that wheel. yeah um So that that kind of stuff goes on every day. and and and i Well, not every day, but every model year, every product.
00:40:01
Speaker
And that's that's why there's three product managers doing it for for our range. But and how it has got... and There has been a high level of complexity reduction. The process is more streamlined than there was, say, 10 years ago. So right now, you'll see specs that will be very, very similar across Europe.
00:40:17
Speaker
um Say, recently, a indeed d we have the Edition 75s in Ireland. so They're known as the Match in the UK, ah Match Models. um They're known as probably something else and in other models based on on localization.
00:40:29
Speaker
95% of that equipment will be the same. um and And that allows for the cars to be produced faster, allows for equipment sourcing to be easier, allows to remove, let's say, some of the very, very bespoke orders to essentially streamline people, to allow things to be much more efficient because... because um Again, there's lots of demands on on efficiency. and And it does dispel the myth for years that, you know, the paddy spec cars, that's just not a thing anymore, really. No, no, there would have there would have been, that would have been the case. But it's it's now kind of, it's more centralised, let's say. I was going to ask about that because, you know, 20 years ago or even back in your MDL days, there there was a very different spec of car just to get the car out at a price that would be anyway palatable for cars.
00:41:12
Speaker
an Irish audience, you know, you would have Audi A4s with hubcaps and windy windows. And I remember them as press vehicles. and But now, surely now with EVs and with PHEVs, the level, the field is much more level across Europe, I guess, because you're not being hugely constrained by, oh if we put this on and this on and this on, the price is so much more.
00:41:37
Speaker
yeah like let's kind of give an example when id3 was was launched we had we had the id3 first editions which were all the same spec across europe um then we went into fast lane models which were ah there was about 13 different variants but they were i think it was life life dx business family style tech max um the whole idea though they were the same specs all over europe the whole idea was fast lane, get the cars built, built faster. So that has kind of carried through over the years, whereas like say 10, 15 years ago, that wouldn't have been the case. You would have had, like for instance, I would have had many, many arguments in 2019, 2020.
00:42:16
Speaker
A strong debate with the factory was, I think DAB became an EU standard. 2019. 2019.
00:42:24
Speaker
And i I remember sending them over data and going, this is how many DAB radio stations there are. like Because they were like, this has a value. This is, you know, the value of, say, like so say it's €400. And at that time, RTE had shut off DAB in this country. So we were trying to say, this has no customer perceived value because we don't need it. um It is back now, with thankfully. Yeah. and And at the time, we would have...
00:42:44
Speaker
we we We're looking at it from a consumer point of view, going there's just no market demand for it. But we had our colleagues at the OAM saying, there's a benefit here. we We have to charge for it. So that would have been, we would have been debating that at length.
00:42:57
Speaker
Alarms historically, um like simple things like every car in the UK has an alarm, every car in Ireland wouldn't have had a alarm. So they when they tried to put us into a right-hand drive cluster um and take the UK spec to 95%, we're like, but we don't need an alarm.
00:43:10
Speaker
Take it out. Bring down the retail price by 400 euros. That's what would have been the, the the debate and they'd like, but why? All the cars in the UK have it. And, you know, when you're talking to Central Europe, they're looking at, like, Ireland, UK, you're side by side, how are you so different? Different, yeah.
00:43:26
Speaker
And that's the joy of it. Would things like that be a factor in, for example, you can't now get a Passat in Ireland anymore, but it is available in the UK. Is that you have to have a certain amount of numbers to order? is it because of emissions? What was the reason? Yeah, so, the business, like, so, but we looked at Passat, um,
00:43:44
Speaker
it was when we were going through rounds in terms of the the the offering that was put to us to give you an idea in the uk the diesel bassette is only available in the airline Whereas in Ireland, it would have been, like historically, the diesel Passat would have been 95% the volume. So when you only have developed in one trim line, it reduces the volume potential. The pricing of the car, I think, as simulated at Norline would have been around 60k.
00:44:05
Speaker
We have an ID.7 at 57.5. Why would you buy Passat? And and like where the the future is electric vehicles, depending on the road, the length, time that goes. But The ID7 that we have is ah is a very strong proposition against a Versace. Particularly in the estate version. I love that car.
00:44:22
Speaker
That's great. And to give you an idea of volumes, I think estate so far, year to date, in that size, it's probably about 250 units, half of which are just go to superb. And then one third of that is is us in the ID7 variant or the ID7 Tourer. And then the balance is a few competitors.
00:44:41
Speaker
like what we could bring it in and do 50 cars, it just doesn't make sense. It has to as to make sense from a volume case. um And the work that goes into that in terms of production capacity, everything from a, even locally, in terms of the setup of the cars, you don't want to just be bringing something in to sell 50 units of it. You want to be doing 200, 300 units plus, which it was sore to see it go, to honest. Because it was a bit of an Irish staple car, wasn't Yeah, yeah. It was...
00:45:10
Speaker
like what what reduced Passat saloon was the UK reducing its volume. And that that essentially, it was the saloon version of the Passat was sold mainly yeah UK, Ireland and Turkey. Everything else, at every other country, it was probably the flip of what we see in the States.
00:45:26
Speaker
So every time we would have a discussion factory, they'd nearly be laughing. was going, do you guys buy saloons? be like, why do you guys buy your estates? And the reality is we get on the plane, they drive for four or five hours to different countries. And that's the, they they pick ah pack up their car. So and When the Jetta end of production was announced, it was it was sore. and When the Passat one was announced, it was sore. But thankfully, we have the ID.7 there.
00:45:47
Speaker
We see in the fleet segment, while there is a volume potential, say, for that size car, a lot of customers have have and gone into ID.4 and somewhat much depending on where it sits on the list prices say with companies and all in terms of their their categories for their drivers, we see IAD7 volume in there as well. Albeit that it's it's it's not compared to what would have been years ago, but we haven't seen a big big pushback from it.
00:46:11
Speaker
And ID4 has been a particularly successful fleet car this year. And and would ID7 also get a boost if there was, i mean, I know there's BIK, but is there anything else the government, if they were listening, could do to help? From a BIK perspective, the biggest challenge from what we see is, you know when a leasing company signs up a contract with an end user, it's a four year contract.
00:46:35
Speaker
Right now they know for one year what would the BIK rules are. So you could have, and as as it stands, you could have the ID4, the BIK for a driver could be 50 euro a month, or I don't know the exact details depending on the mileage, let's say, but it could be, you could go from paying 50 euro a a month by year four because there's uncertainty about the future.
00:46:55
Speaker
So, All leasing partners are and retailers that sell leasing products attract to fleet companies are trying to manage that. But what gives certainty is to say, okay, when you sign X number of contracts this year, this is the price for that customer for the next four years.
00:47:10
Speaker
That would drive volume because No one likes uncertainty. No. And that's a huge change in your monthly bills. Yeah. and that's and And we saw January last year what happened when there was a sudden change. um People's bills went up by €300 and next thing you know, there's a change to the BIK changes in terms of this €10,000 buffer that was put in to to to ease that. But it's a bit short-sighted, unfortunately. yeah Whereas when you're looking at contracts, you want to think like four years for the fleet and leasing market.
00:47:40
Speaker
You know, when you buy a car as a private customer, you know which monthly repayments are going to be for three, four years, depending on your product. and And do you get much engagement or, you know, obviously being, you know, folks are from Group Ireland, one in four, I think it is, cars, reg new cars registered in Ireland come from here. Do you get much engagement from the government instead of saying, okay, will this work?
00:47:59
Speaker
Or does it just, here it is, and deal with it? Yeah, and and like you'll remember from your days here and years gone by, like I would have been part of the lobby group that would have been trying to inform about the potential consequences of the VRT changes yeah when Minister Eamon and Ryan announced various different things in the tax strategy group paper.
00:48:20
Speaker
You're trying to educate them a lot of time and there's a lot of lot of work that goes on in the background by Simei, by retailers with their local politicians, where they're trying to put the message across because there's our message, there's probably another message coming from someone else saying the opposite. So you're trying to say, well, this is this is the reality. so Do we get engagement? Yes, when when when we when we engage, um we do. be honest, I've been out of that circle for the last three, four years.
00:48:45
Speaker
But we were, in your day here, Paddy, as you know, we were very active um and we we got a good level of engagement. Submitted to the things to tax strategy group papers, as did CIMI. And usually CIMI will spend a lot of time making the noise and communicating on behalf of the industry to who who do a good job in that regard. So...
00:49:04
Speaker
And we've seen this week, yeah Mark, Daryl O'Brien, Minister Daryl O'Brien, hinting at potentially scrappage scheme coming up to encourage more EVs. They've admitted that they're way off their million target, but are hoping for sort of 600,000 by 2030. would still be a great result. Like, we are a small country. we We sell, give or take, 120, 130,000 new cars a year. So even that figure was ah always yeah too ambitious. Yeah, it was always pie in the sky.
00:49:29
Speaker
Like, we... like on like four or five years ago, we would have flagged this to say it's pie in the sky based on and change in VRT, the new car numbers. You can see we're doing an average of 120,000 new cars a year.
00:49:42
Speaker
There's a car park of 2.5 million cars. You need to be doing 160, 170 new cars saying, oh yeah, we'll get some imports from the UK or for Japan if they're older cars. It's not the answer. You want to be supplying your your essentially locally locally created new cars. When we were flagging at the time, there's going to be demand unused in the UK as well as Ireland. So don't just assume that these cars will but swim across. um And we can see it's happening now. So theres we've got, it's it's one of the the boundaries, let's say. and And they have made it quite easy to import an electric car to this country.
00:50:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, thankfully, what we're seeing is there's good, like the used cars have definitely found a price um in terms of like the ah took like the last two years, it took a lot of pain to get there, let's say.
00:50:26
Speaker
um And there's quite good demand on used cars. I think battery certification and assurity on the batteries. and We rolled out a certified battery program across our network. So when you go and you shop for a BEV, you can see, is that car at 96, 97 percent? and The more data that ah there is on that, the more confidence it will bring because there's a lot of scaremongering out there, but the facts are very different. um So, yeah, just the used car market is is is is turning a good corner on BEVs in that regard.
00:50:55
Speaker
Talk us through then, you know, at a sort of reasonably granular level locally when... you know or you've seen the car you've agreed roughly the pricing and and you're at this at a ladder stages of it when you're speccing a car specifically for Ireland what are the factors that you take into consideration is it you know do you have a persona of who this customer is do you have a an idea of what it is they want. How do you sort of... Can you get it in grey? Yeah, exactly. yeah how do you How do you create that sort of sweet spot for any vehicle? Look, there's there's usually a playbook given by the factory about this customer is X years of age, they have three kids or 1.5 kids, blah, blah, blah. yeah um
00:51:34
Speaker
We look at it reality as like, what what is the market doing right now? um They always do sort of great skiing and cross-country skiing. Avatars, they have dog. Three dogs, yeah. They never just sort of sit on the couch while telling. radio, by the way. You get like Sharon, who's 35 and listens to Q102 and she goes to Aldi. and yeah yeah so so him So the question is, what how do we how do we determine where the car should sit?
00:51:59
Speaker
Yeah, in terms of specifications, should it have a sunroof, should it have cruise control, should it have... See, I don't see the point with sunroofs these days because very few of them open. But some people like them and they don't want them. And they take out their head height and they add weight and add money. Yeah, and when the BRT, when we went from NADC to WLTP and CO2 base, the discussion was heavily on...
00:52:22
Speaker
do we take out sunroofs and make them optional extras? Because the difference could have been sunroof that pre the CO2 tax could have cost 1400, suddenly it became 3600 euro. The reality is if there's a demand on the used side for that car with a sunroof, that usually drives the behavior.
00:52:38
Speaker
I think like from our from our perspective, learnings over the years is that a car, once a retailer has confidence in the car, it'll sell because ultimately they they're trying to manage the customer to make sure that the customer has confidence buying the car off them.
00:52:54
Speaker
They have the relationship with the customer. And usually that relationship is, it's not just you're buying the car and I'll see you in three years. It's it's you're buying the car, your family has bought the car, there could be 10 people connected to it. So um we're always factoring that into going like, okay, where's this car going to sit in three years time?
00:53:12
Speaker
I remember way back when, before Bluetooth was being brought in as standard, it was like there was infrared, there was all this, and we were all saying, what is this? you know Because at the time was the mounted piece on the dash and stuff like that. Your Nokia 6310. Yeah, exactly.
00:53:28
Speaker
and That kind of conversation was was, so retailer engagement is quite good on it. And sometimes having them, say, over in Dusseldorf and showing them, the the new models coming out, you can kind through conversations, you can kind of understand where do they see the journey going.
00:53:42
Speaker
um we would When we spec up a car, it's based on what we're selling today. So say if it's, um and say if it's like probably Tiguan, we'd look at, okay, what what what's the demand in Tiguan? What are the high installation rate optional equipments?
00:53:57
Speaker
Do we keep them optional or do we try and make them standard? Because like in some cases, if there's something that's At 80% an optional extra, you'll try and in the new generation, you'll try and put it in standard. Yeah, and that is something Ray Dettie said to us when we interviewed him. Ray, for anyone who doesn't know, he's the head of product and and marketing for Scota Ireland. he He broke down almost a car now compared to 10 years ago. And 10 years ago, you didn't get LED headlights. You didn't get an automatic gearbox. You're not comparing like with like anymore.
00:54:23
Speaker
But on the same vein, like Volkswagen Ireland were one of the brands that had to... shave some prices off cars to remain competitive. Obviously the technology was changing, maybe supply was making it more affordable.
00:54:33
Speaker
and when When someone drops 10 grand off a car, people maybe think that's 10 grand profit that they were taking off you, but now they found it down the back of the couch.
00:54:44
Speaker
It doesn't work like that. But where does that 10 grand come from? Good question. um So if we look at if we look at BEVs in particular, so What happened in
BEV Market Fluctuations
00:54:55
Speaker
2023? From an Irish perspective, we slow saw a slowdown March, April 23. So we went, our order intake just halved.
00:55:02
Speaker
Then that was compounded by SAI grant reduction from 5,000 to 3,500.
00:55:08
Speaker
ah But at the same time, something was happening in Europe, production capacity was was easing and easing drastically. So we went from a period of two years where customers were waiting an average of eight months to get a car extending into a year to suddenly having to be, okay, we can get that car to six to eight weeks.
00:55:25
Speaker
There are usually the the alarm bells. and we will We will put a case back to the for total the factory saying like there's, you know, our our coverage is opening up here in terms of um we need to have a better order intake plan, a better offer.
00:55:37
Speaker
um The landscape has changed, whatever. Sorry? The landscape has changed. Thea are doing an offer. Do you look at that specifically other competitors? or Yeah, we would look we would look at, we constantly watch the market. yeah yeah um But in terms of what happened with the BEV situation, um demand dropped across Europe and and ah the OEM had to take drastic action.
00:55:59
Speaker
and Where did that money come from? It came from all the stakeholders involved in the sale. So um everyone had to take the pain in that. um And thankfully now they're at a level there's good demand on them. um But it's it's like anything else though. As the technology develops and grows, the prices come down. It's like when DVD players came out first, they were a thousand quid and yeah then they're eventually at 20 quid. you know yeah And it's just simple things like... um like the cars shipped to Ireland on ah on a ferry, and the price of the ferry might have, the shipping could have gone down so that and that could save.
00:56:31
Speaker
So just, but the other side of that, in 2022, that was an all time high. So um yeah, it it has to cut it doesn't it like has to make sense for the OEM to do it. I think from there, ah like without knowing the details as to their decision, but just based off my time here,
00:56:48
Speaker
I probably would have thought the decision probably was, do we just shut down production or do we and send send the guys home that are meant to be building cars or do we take something drastic and take a big haircut to do this?
00:56:59
Speaker
I imagine that's just or phase it down. The CFO from Stellantis, Tommy Simler, they had a yard yards and yards full of fee of high funders in Germany because the German government shut off the grants. yeah talk Just gone.
00:57:11
Speaker
And Stellantis is the first one who had to take €10,000 off each car. And then the sales shot up again. Yeah. Which is always a sign. I was only talking about this to someone else the other day. You know, the Nissan Leaf was a car that started at about 29. Now I think the the outgoing version is like 20, 21,000. And again, they're gone.
00:57:30
Speaker
So everything is a price, but it's, you know, everyone's also in in business to try and make a profit as well. that And that's exactly it. it's It's like... there's you know There's the European Green Deal in terms of the, we know the 2035 plan. We know where the journey is going there. We can see um where, where ice you can see it in the figures. You spoke about them last week where diesel's gone, but it's gone learn where BEV is going.
00:57:53
Speaker
There is, i think everyone has their own journey. Every consumer has their own journey to get to where they're going. And what it felt like definitely under the the the previous government would have been that it was, you need to be driving a BEV or getting a bus.
00:58:07
Speaker
And I think that came true and that changed the behaviour. But yeah, cutting off the grants, one of the arguments we would have put forward is if you want a million, keep the grants going, listen to us until you get to half a million, 400,000 and then change it. They cut it off too quickly. um They removed the SAA grant from PHEVs. I think that was...
00:58:28
Speaker
In 2021, they removed the the leasing car sold to the leasing sector. um Charger grants. Charger grants. Yeah. So like from my perspective, if there's people that are in doubt, you can get a private lease product where essentially you're you're leasing the car. So there's people, people are ultimately, they're putting in their deposit. um And if they're concerned about the car coming back in three years time, better value of the car, they can get a leasing product. But the challenge is the government doesn't support that for a private consumer. so that's that's um So that that doesn't help things. and So that's where the retailer comes in and the retailer, like they that's why they're always caring about the sale now, but also about their car in three or four years time.
00:59:07
Speaker
what will that car be worth? um Yes, there's guaranteed future values written underwritten by FS or Volkswagen Financial Services in our case. However, ultimately, the the retailer is the one that is buying the car back off the customer in three years' time and reselling it. um So they're care like theyve they're worried about dash um that life cycle of that car more so than than um than the government, let's say.
00:59:30
Speaker
In terms of Irish, and specifically Irish characteristics, are there... peculiarities specifics to the Irish customer still or have things levelled out across Europe really I think ah one of the things that as we're quite regularly told is our colours are very conservative true in terms of like you'll see the T-Cross for instance now has as a nice array of colours and We'll hear about and installation rates from other markets then going, oh, sure, like black, silver, grey. So that I don't think is going to change.
01:00:03
Speaker
um I imagine it's linked to the weather. I don't know. It's just it's on that. it's ah yeah It's secondhand values, is it? They feel worried that they, you know, they worry that if I get a yellow one, then I won't get as good a trade in in three years time or whatever. There's that, yeah. So um a lot of things have levelled out. Look, our behaviour is, I think, yeah, we're... we're we're probably not too far apart from from EU, let's say, now than we were years ago. And I think some of that would have been the dawn of technology. We're all connected somehow now, so everything feeds across.
01:00:34
Speaker
This is the Drivers Republic podcast, which is brought to you by Dundeele Motors, home of the trusted dealer programme, helping you buy with confidence from verified dealerships. We'll have more from Martin after the break.
01:00:44
Speaker
So Martin, as someone who clearly likes cars, because you got into and such a young age, when you, in your job, you know, you get to see, just as an example, you get to see the Golf GTI or some sort of photograph of what it might look like two, three years ahead in advance.
01:00:56
Speaker
Yeah. And you just have to keep that yourself. Yeah. And then by the time it comes, you're like, you're on to the next thing. So sometimes you, like when I was doing the the role of um head a product and planning, I would have seen the change in the infotainment system. Like the what we have on the BEVs now. Oh, there's games coming. You can play games on this. And at the time I like, this is mental.
01:01:14
Speaker
Like literally going, this is crazy. And they would have demoed it to us and shown us how it was working. It just blew me away at the So are cars in three years' time, as in cars that haven't even been announced yet, are they going to be radically different?
01:01:27
Speaker
I think... um Like they're still going to have steering wheels. They're still going to have yeah four or five seats, but... i look I think what we need to look, if if we look at it from from the outside in, let's say, and we now have AI.
01:01:38
Speaker
AI is playing a big factor in terms of, our like you can see how it's how we're using it in business here. um It's integrated into some of our cars. You can ask it like what what what restaurants is there in Cashel or something like that. so that That'll be more integrated. I think also the journey eventually will go towards autonomous cars.
01:01:56
Speaker
and That will be a factor. I don't think it'll take over, but I think um there will be more autonomous cars and in the future. So you could be essentially checking your emails, stuff that you couldn't do in the office, but you're on the way home. yeah Yeah, exactly. And in theory then, for for example, I mean, and as someone who does like cars, the idea of autonomous cars is like, oh God, really?
01:02:14
Speaker
But if, like your time in Skoda, you're going home to do some more work, if you could, on your way home, get the last few bits done and then have more time with your family or whatever, that's a good thing. Exactly that. your Your car, say, for someone like me that's a commuter, your car becomes a mobile office. um Your journey that you're taking is very, could be, I imagine sitting over at a table eating your breakfast. um So there's that, I think that, but how far away is that?
01:02:41
Speaker
Originally, I think it was talked about in 2030. I think everything's kind of slowed down a little bit now in terms of it's it's a little bit beyond that. But that's probably the biggest change that I see um that's coming. Now, how affordable will that be is a big question because that technology comes at a cost and also the regulation behind it. um me EU regulation, is as we know, is is quite heavy on it.
01:03:01
Speaker
The cars have been tested all over the world and in certain cities and in Europe and we can see what's what's happening there. But that's that's probably, for me, that's probably one of the most exciting things that's coming from everything that we have.
01:03:14
Speaker
Do any cars surprise you? and ah you know Are there any cars that come when you go, wow, I really wasn't expecting that to have gone so well or are you know that that's it's been a hit that you didn't think might have been such a hit?
01:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, like if I think now the car that I can't wait to land is the ID.2 GTI. When I saw that, i was like, oh, wow. And that to me is that like it's a GTI. So the volume is it's not going to be a thousand units a year, but that car is exciting. um So that that you get that when you see the car, you go, okay, that that's going to be a hit.
01:03:48
Speaker
um What was a success for us? and and When we had the e-golf, we did an executive edition. That was a surprise. 50% mix of of the executive edition. We had the UK ring that's going, what are you doing there? And was like, okay, we just want a letter on alloys on it. And and ah yeah so there's there stuff like that where it's worked well and we thought, oh, that's not going to it's not it's going to do 20% of the volume, but it just grew and gave the car a big lift.
01:04:10
Speaker
I always say to people, if you were buying a second-hand EV and you weren't hugely worried about range, buy one of those Executive Edition Golfs because they were pretty much hand-built in Dresden.
01:04:21
Speaker
They were incredibly well-built and amazing spec. Yeah, I had one that was a big fan of it. It was 235 kilometre range. remember there was free charging at the time. So whenever you need to charge, it was always blocked.
01:04:34
Speaker
yeah Not too too different from there. but it's it but ah it was um But i was yeah it was it was a Golf with an electric motor. and What a car. It was great. So that was one of the cars that that was...
01:04:48
Speaker
probably excited me the most at the time. Look, the Archeon would have been, like over the years there's always something, like said, well, probably the biggest one to to share would be Archeon when, what year was it, was it 2019? I think it was, sorry, no, it would have been 2022, 2023.
01:05:03
Speaker
So we went from selling 200 Archeons a year, Passat had ended. We, for years had been knocking on the factory door going, we need this car at a better price point. It was too close to the A5 as an example. but um And we got it. We eventually due to production freeing up and and development costs, they've taken out of cars and stuff. We we managed to secure a package where the car essentially came down by eight to 10%. We went from 200 cars to 750 cars the following year.
01:05:26
Speaker
The thing flew. um you still still It still looks like arts it's been announced today. It's very fresh. Whoever designed that car, know what the name is, but fair play to them because like that's that's a nice one to have in your back pocket. I designed that one. Yeah.
01:05:38
Speaker
um Like people in VW in Germany, in the senior board team or whatever, they've kind of alluded to it, but the golf will live on, won't it? From what I gather, yes. Right. We did try and get the up GTI over the line as well, I think, didn't we? Do you remember? We did. Yeah, we did. that If you've never driven, and and you've driven a GTI V. No, I haven't. Oh my God. What a car.
01:05:59
Speaker
Absolutely little gem. And look, there's some cars where we can, some cars, they're brought in um or we're allowed to bring them in without having like a minimum mix
Halo Cars & VRT Impact
01:06:08
Speaker
requirement, let's say. So because again, they're a halo car, they're orders.
01:06:12
Speaker
Like say for instance, the Auras, we had a T-Roc on our and our list price for a while. I think we sold one, but it was again, it was a halo model. um So just there's things like that. you would do we do We would love to bring every model in that the brand offer. You can see some of the cars that we can't or some of cars where VRT doesn't work, say for instance. Golf R is probably in that space now, is it?
UK vs Ireland Car Pricing
01:06:32
Speaker
Yeah, the Golf R is, yeah, it's a pre-tax price is similar to the UK, but yet the UK is saying it for about 45,000 sterling over here. It's 75,000 euro the difference is tax but we can't I suppose for so for lots of people who aren't necessarily tuned into how much we pay in tax it is such a huge factor especially on those performance curves isn't it it da I've had comments from people in the UK ask me what I'm smoking when I quote prices and and like I got into a full-on row with somebody yesterday who said you just said there's 24,000 euro extras on that BMW X3 I've just ordered it for you know 55 grand and and
01:07:12
Speaker
Paisley accused me lying. ah Because look, if you live in the UK and you're just a consumer, you've no reason to know how our tax works, but people can get their head around it. Yeah, and and like, we all like cars.
01:07:23
Speaker
um And like, I think some of the things that frustrates me is, like say, the the recent brand
VRT's Impact on Luxury Cars
01:07:29
Speaker
trip that I would have been on to Dusseldorf. We we had a few events that we had to go to in Dusseldorf over the couple of days that we're there.
01:07:35
Speaker
But we stayed in Dusseldorf and saw... the luxury and the super luxury cars. And then you go, i wonder how much that would be in Ireland. And you realise that VRT is 75 to 100,000, 150,000. The price difference versus the UK. I think that's where like it it it it does prevent the market. Ireland has ah high wealth status. We have people who can afford to buy Bentleys, Bugattis, Lamborghinis at a UK price.
01:08:01
Speaker
But because of VRT, it doesn't make sense. And it probably makes sense for them to to keep the car over in the UK and fly over and and drive it around for it because ultimately they're not going to use the car as a commuter. So i think that's where it kicks us out from
VRT as Economic Barrier
01:08:13
Speaker
the market.
01:08:13
Speaker
I would love to see like the tax on on luxury and super luxury cars been limited to like maybe 10%. Cap it at least. Yeah, like say maybe cap it at 55,000 or something like that. It would make the car parks even more interesting. like ah Again, the other night in, ah where was I?
01:08:30
Speaker
In Prague. It was a brand new Aston Martin and everyone was stopped on the street looking at it because just you're just probably not going to see that car here. But you have to wonder, the government are doing it right. They're doing it for emissions levels with us doing it for tax. and And how much more would they earn if they did...
01:08:45
Speaker
sort of allow a little bit more freedom for the wealthier people to buy these cars and take a sizable chunk of tax, but not an amount that's going to stop people buying it. See, they still get the VAT.
01:08:56
Speaker
That's the thing. I think it's, we forget. like it's And unfortunately, it's, it's it's it's like I would say, VRT is perceived as ah a stealth, essentially, in there. Ultimately, there's a VAT on VRT and it's a sizable chunk on both.
01:09:09
Speaker
And you see it, and we see it in terms of regular pricing, when people compare going, you know, they started accusing the brands without doing digging, going, oh, you're ripping off the consumer in Ireland because this, and going, well, actually, sorry, if you brought that car in, you paid VRT, the car would be at the same price, assuming the exchange rate is set right. So it's, it's ah like, in the world of tariffs, it is a tariff to a point. um It's a shame that it's
VRT's Influence on Car Market
01:09:31
Speaker
gone that way. And also that Continental GT has to be serviced. It needs tyres. They're getting multiple chunks of revenue from those cars that they don't have here. Yeah. And like, I think no one drives a Continental GT to commute 200 kilometres a day. um
01:09:46
Speaker
They're driving probably 3,000 to 5,000 kilometres a year at leisure. um so But yet they have to pay the VRT the same as as as someone that could be driving driving something that's less emitting but doing it across the mileage. So just it's it's it's just frustrating because you see the cars and you're like, oh God, that would be beautiful that we had that here. And you just, you know, our roads are, while we have nice cars on the roads in terms of our own cars, our group's cars, there's certainly a lot more that's out there.
01:10:13
Speaker
and And unfortunately, the VRT prevents that from happening until it gets it becomes a vintage car. so Yeah. Well, if someone with a 3.6 engine at home that does maybe a thousand kilometres a year and it's, what is it, 1809. I feel that pain.
01:10:29
Speaker
But you could be in your 520 diesel, you know, doing 300,000 kilometres and you're paying 170 quid. Yeah. that And that's the frustrating thing. That's where, yeah know, when you love seeing, you see them come out in the u and and and and the UK and on the continent and you're just like And they bring joy. The genuine, like, the car people, but it's it's like going into an art museum. You know, like, we do love looking at them.
Transitioning to EVs
01:10:53
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah. As as number one EV brand on the Irish market, folks on compassion, your cars are leading the way. How have you found the, over the last couple of years, that move to EVs, the challenges, that the opportunities?
01:11:06
Speaker
So, We're selling EVs for about 10 years. It's mad to think. It was the battery, but i think the range was 130, went up to 235. 24 kilowatt hour battery. That's exactly it.
01:11:19
Speaker
So to see to go from that ID3, we went from taking, I think it was 10 orders a month in EGov to suddenly going up to 30, 40, 50 in ID3 and then it exploded with ID4.
01:11:31
Speaker
And then COVID happened and the demand kind of stayed there, thereabouts, but then supply restrictions happened. So it was, 2023 was a real eye opener because we went from, I think in the previous year, we'd done over 30% mix of on BEV of all our our registrations.
01:11:46
Speaker
It then went down to something like 18, 19%. It's now kind of coming back to that, but... We still don't know why, like you could say, oh it happened because of the pricing, blah, blah.
Rise in PHEV Demand
01:11:55
Speaker
Everything, the demand just suddenly dropped off and it coincided with, like coincided with some VRT or subsidy changes in terms of the SEI grants, but there was something else, field as well so that was probably biggest eye opener in terms of that change but to see it now we have huge demand on Tiguan and Tehran we're sold out practically for the year there's stocks around the country but we're getting to the point where if you order something from production it's a 261 and is that because of PHEV PHEV is going very well on it to be honest no we still have demand for diesel diesel is huge still but does that then tell you in a brand in an OEM that not everyone wants electric
01:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, and that's and that's i think the and that's why like we're not shouting and screaming and saying, you have to drive this. We have everything for all. So we have ICE with PHV and with Bev and just people want a PHV. I mean, take it when we see it in an ICE.
01:12:53
Speaker
like 35% of our our volume is PHEV. The Tehran PHEV is a five-seater. So people are opting for, for they want a size car, but they want it in a PHEV. So we're seeing consumer behavior change and in a way in that. And think it's just,
01:13:08
Speaker
They want to do something. The probably reality is they'll probably spend 90% of the time driving in the electric motor because of the range in it. But they just don't have to their own, ah like in terms of their own surety or comfort of if I have to drive from here to...
01:13:24
Speaker
to carry Willow get a charger as an example. It's funny to think that the battery size in in those is now the same as the battery size in the E-Golf. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and you know not just because we're in this building, but Volkswagen are probably now offering one of the best PHEV offerings in terms of, like you you will I know the range in most of those cars is 130, and that will change, but you're very much guaranteed to get 100 kilometres.
01:13:44
Speaker
Yeah. And that's pretty
Consumer Education for EV Adoption
01:13:46
Speaker
low. Which is kind of nearly, like it's you know you're at this sort of critical level point of once you have 100 it's it's really very usable and i do wonder will phdv because i it's weird like everyone knows what a car is everyone knows the function of a car that's been around for a long time but yes i think evs are something that people who've never tried it they genuinely have to try it and maybe even live with it and understand the running costs are so much less but until you do that and i think that's where the phdv thing is
01:14:16
Speaker
to it's safe it's going to be a whole handling exercise yeah yeah yeah like it's for me i'm driving bevs i think five six years as my my my car a second car at home um a neve's car is a is a is a tiguan plug-in um when we drive that you forget that there's there's ah a 1.5 tsi engine in there as well um but And like there is a confidence factor, I think, when it comes to BEVs.
Personal EV Experiences
01:14:41
Speaker
But it's great that we have the choice and and we have the we can choose between going into ICE and PHEV and BEV.
01:14:47
Speaker
For me, I've driven from, from I live in Ballagher, so driven from just outside of Gorey all the way up to Leroy County via Ballina in a 97. I did it in January, so when temperatures were low. that's one charge I got up to Radisson in Leather Kenny with 3% charged at the Radisson and then the next day went to Cavan on a visit to a dealer and then onwards home but I did that And I think I can do that now, no problem. I drove to Blackwater Motors in Formoy and Cork City recently on a 94 in one charge and backwards.
01:15:20
Speaker
Four years ago I would have wanted to stop. I got home with 8% battery. I had AC on. I drive it like a car. I i like i like don't drive it any differently. I don't sit stand behind it or drive behind a lorry anything like that. Just drive it like
Range Anxiety & Evolving Perceptions
01:15:33
Speaker
it like a car. It drives me mad into a taxi EV and a lot of Dublin taxi drivers do this where the air con is off yeah to save the range. And you can't breathe in the car. And the windows are steamed up and it's just incredibly uncomfortable. And it's like, just turn the air con on. It's fine.
01:15:45
Speaker
It's funny. What was controversial, I remember at the time when the E-Golf executive was coming was the fact that you were putting seven bigger wheels on it. And, you know, there was like, really? Why you before you doing this? And then now you've 21s on a lot of our EVs.
01:16:00
Speaker
I think at the time it knocked... was it 20 kilometres off the range or something that, think was. But... Yeah, things have changed. Things have changed. Things have are drastically changed now. So
Volkswagen's Inclusive Strategy
01:16:10
Speaker
it's... Yeah.
01:16:11
Speaker
So it's going to busy time. As far as I know from memory, there's there's nine new Volkswagens coming between now and 2027, I think. So you probably know more, you can't say. um So is it fair to say that the Volkswagen strategy worldwide almost will be we will have a car for every single customer slash option?
01:16:30
Speaker
Yeah. So you don't go anywhere else. Exactly. Exactly that. And and we're We're not, we we looked it's exactly that there's that. We don't want to alienate any customer to say, sorry, we don't have an option for you. um And the last probably 24 months or 36 months has taught us that. we but we were When we would have been um looking at the the current generation Tiguan in terms of the pricing and the volume planning inside of it, it was like looking it and going, here's the list price of this car. We know we sell predominantly R-lines, so it's 50, 60K plus.
01:17:02
Speaker
And then we would have been looking at the price of a BEV going, where's the business case for a customer driving an ICE? But the reality is it still works as a used car um in terms of the Tiguan.
01:17:13
Speaker
There's still a demand there from consumers. So the fact that we can offer something to all means that at least they're not leaving somewhere and being disgruntled because there's people that are, their families are driving Volkswagens for years and then to say, oh, well, i can't get
Retailer-Consumer Relationships
01:17:26
Speaker
that anymore. So I'm going over to,
01:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, and you probably can't say, but I mean, that is that's what happened, has happened in Ford. You know, if you bought a Fiesta for years, they're now asking to buy a Puma Gen E. That's 12,000 euro dearer than the. So it's it's and of I've asked about this new Nissan Leaf as well.
01:17:42
Speaker
They have 700,000 Leafs. The new one is going to be very nice and I can't really talk about it till next week. But ah how do you keep that person in your company if your car models drastically change or in Ford's case disappear?
01:17:56
Speaker
Yeah, and I think this is where where retailers come in, to be honest. Like we can offer the product, we can offer the the sales campaign in terms of the the sales program for the customer. um Their relationship with the retailer is is key in that because say like if so usually what's happening is a person is going back to buy off the same retailer or sales salesperson and they have a level of trust with them and they know that person is not going to steer me field. So people are coming in today and they're going,
01:18:21
Speaker
what's this PHEV thing about? What's this BEV thing about? And the salesperson is telling them, well, this XYZ and they go, okay, you know what? I might give it a try. And they're do?
01:18:32
Speaker
Or they might say, or um well, 90% of them are saying do, I imagine, because looking at our mixes. But um that's where that's where that barrier, I think, for us is definitely the retailer network.
01:18:43
Speaker
Because you can do, look and and the education piece, um even through reviews by by you guys about what is, giving them confidence in terms of the the models that we offer. And then it's when people are taking leaps, they want they want someone to tell them, it's okay to take that leap.
01:19:01
Speaker
Because it's a huge investment. yeah We get that. like And and and ands there is a fear factor when changing from from ice to bev. There is a fear factor from changing and from from anything. Anything. it's It's everyday life. The...
Adapting to Car Market Changes
01:19:13
Speaker
There's a lot of certainty and in stability um and when you pull out a model, it's its like, and we've we've been lucky, okay, Passat Saloon disappeared. We've seen a lot of customers transfer into ID4. We saw them transfer into Archeon, but some also left.
01:19:29
Speaker
So, um and that's that's, thankfully we have, look, we're a group brand, so thankfully we have Skoda across the corridor that, in most of our dealerships, that they could go across um and and take a Suburb if they wanted to stick with the,
01:19:42
Speaker
with that version. But um yeah, it's it's it's, Ford unfortunately, yeah, it's it's it's from 15 years. I remember in the Skoda days, you're looking at that that brand in the top three when we were on the outside of the top 10 going, oh, wow. And now it's it's the opposite way around probably. so Not your circus.
01:20:03
Speaker
Well, Martin, thank you very much for talking to us. Continued success in in VW. And we might see you running the play someday. never know. Thanks. Well, I don't know about you, Paddy, but I found it very interesting just to hear what it's like on the other shoe.
01:20:15
Speaker
yeah Yeah, Martin's really a fund of information. i've worked I worked on him for a long time and he's been in all of those key jobs. He's seen every aspect of of planning, of of you know the intricacies of product and also now as head of sales and, you know, really being in charge of what exactly is going to land in forecourts and being responsible for that. So yeah, really, really good fund of information. And probably who knows where to go for a good night out in Prague.
01:20:38
Speaker
Oh yeah, for sure, for sure. say so.
Future Podcast Teasers
01:20:42
Speaker
Okay, so look, next week on the show we will have more about the Skoda Elrock RS, which is possibly the sweet spot instead of a sport line. I'll reveal more.
01:20:51
Speaker
and We'll also have details on the new Nissan Leaf, which is a car that has sold 700,000 units around the world ah so far. It's their third... generation EV. Not an awful lot of brands can say that just yet.
01:21:04
Speaker
ah But this has been the Drivers Republic podcast brought to you in association with Dundeele Motors where more Irish drivers find their next car from a trusted dealership than anywhere else. Why? Because Dundeele's trusted dealer programme means verified dealerships and the kind of backup that matters like warranties and history checks giving you confidence from your very first click.
01:21:23
Speaker
Chat to you soon buddy. Take care.