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Audi A6 etron & Skoda Elroq test drives, VW Ireland's Alan Bateson & more!
396 Plays1 month ago
Paddy takes the wheel of the A6 e-tron, while Nobby tests the Skoda Elroq, Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce 270bhp, and the XPeng G6. The lads also dive into an important discussion on road safety messaging in Ireland—what’s working, what isn’t, and what we can do to make a real impact.
Plus, we’re joined by Alan Bateson, Brand Director of Passenger Cars at Volkswagen Ireland. Alan opens up about his career journey, life at VW Ireland, the value of his dealer network, and shares some insightful leadership wisdom that drives his success.
Tune in for the latest automotive insights, fascinating interviews, and discussions that matter!
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Transcript
Introduction and Saint Patrick's Day
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Drivers Republic podcast brought to you in association with Dundee Motors, Ireland's favourite car buying website with the widest selection of cars from certified trusted dealerships. Most Irish car drivers find their next car on Dundee.
00:00:14
Speaker
And welcome to the Drivers Republic podcast, which is... A podcast hosted by Paddy Common, who's down there. Hello, Paddy. Hello. And me, Mark Noble, who's up here, wherever up here is. I do have to ask, Paddy, is this a traumatic time of year for you with Paddy's Day and Paddy's Weekend? Was there lots of slagging growing up?
00:00:31
Speaker
No, I think I always enjoyed it because it was one of those days where it was like, it's your day rather than people having a go. So no, it's um it's always a a nice celebration. So yeah, looking forward to it now, I must say.
00:00:43
Speaker
Well, happy Paddy's Day in advance. Thank you very much. ah So I'm a little bit hungover. i don't mind telling you. and so Well, that's that's good. yeah i Who's at fault for that? Gaspar, Caroline, Stuart and basically Mark McGrath. Although Mark McGrath from These Are All People, Lovely People Who Work at Coopra Ireland. Coopra.
00:01:04
Speaker
Some of them went to bed very early but Caroline did not. And she obviously forced you to force alcohol down your throat, She did. She did. She did.
Cupra Brand and Market Growth
00:01:16
Speaker
So we were at the lovely Paris Court Hotel for the launch. Well, not so much a launch of any particular car, just the range of Cupra from the revised Leon to the Bourne VZ, which is their 300 plus brake horsepower. Yeah.
00:01:32
Speaker
Bonkers EV and the new Terramar is there and the Taviscan and they have a lot of product now to offer. For people who don't know the difference between that that the models because, you know, we we brush over those, you know, what's a Terramar, what's a Taviscan?
00:01:46
Speaker
So a Taviscan is essentially an ID.5 slash Enya Coupe. ah offering from Cupra, arguably far more dramatic, I only saw one on the road actually an hour ago on on the school run and very striking looking car, ah but it has the same underpinnings as all of these cars. So various outputs, power trade, well, not so much power trades, but outputs. and And it's kind of, land just sort of the start of the year, they they started to to land um just a striking looking car. It has this huge spine inside the dash that kind of runs the right, right way through the car and towards the dashboard.
00:02:23
Speaker
and I mean, Cupra are, they are part of the Volkswagen group for people aren't aware. They're a very fast growing brand in Europe, but they're also quite fast growing in Ireland. Now they did, they were hands up on us and said, look, we were growing from a very small number four years ago, but we've we sort of doubled our brand awareness.
00:02:44
Speaker
We're selling a lot more cars in 2025 than we have before. and So they're making a mark there. I suppose from a marketing point of view, it's just a very interesting car because obviously they've come from the the the family of SEAT and they've just bought sexy looking cars on the road and people are engaging with them.
00:03:06
Speaker
But they did clarify for people, there's been lots of rumours about SEAT over the last couple of years. ah It seems to have been decided by Volkswagen Group that SEAT are here to stay. They have a loyal customer base, not a huge, huge customer base, but a very loyal one.
00:03:18
Speaker
And they just want to keep buying SEATs. Yeah, I mean, it's it's interesting when I go back to the time when when I was there and Cooper was launched or was starting to launch. ah you know I think a lot of people were very skeptical. We were included that this was going to be a success, but they seem to have managed to pull it off. I mean, it's it's one of those brands now which and is appealing. It has been accepted and and the cars look great.
00:03:43
Speaker
you know They really look great. It's a pretty lineup and and and customers seem to be embracing them as well. So yeah, it seems to have a success so far, but good to see Sayit will continue in some regard because You know, the the likes of the Ibiza in particular, what a great little car. and I had an Ibiza F4 for six months and what a brilliant little machine.
00:04:03
Speaker
it would be a shame to see that those cars disappear. They will be launching two new cars at the end of the year, including a new Ibiza. I'm sorry, just answered your other, the latter part of your question. The Terramar is essentially the, suppose, the Kodiak, the um Tiguan version of of of their car.
00:04:22
Speaker
Okay, five seats are only but for for the... and Five seats only for memory. But interestingly, perhaps, of all the brands in the VW group, Cooper are the only ones who will be bringing the
Volkswagen's Electric Future
00:04:35
Speaker
265 brake horsepower 2 litre petrol in that car to this country.
00:04:40
Speaker
You can't get it in the Tyron. ah You can't even get the Formotion in the Tyron at the moment. Maybe that'll change. So if you want that kind of... If you' you know you've got a family, but you like the look of the Cupra Terramar, and you do like your your right foot when conditions allow, that's the only option you're going to have for that engine, which is mad. Yeah, yeah it is. so I mean...
00:05:06
Speaker
I think the only reason that there they're they're bringing it is because um the kind of heritage of Cooper, that it was born, i would have said, obviously, as a high-performance version. and And that is the case in Europe. A lot of their cars are, like, we're going to have 1.5s and e-hybrids, and they'll offer them as well. But, like, they also are the the people who put the Golf 4 engine into lots of their cars, and and they sell very well in maine mainland Europe. Yeah, I mean, they they the original Cooper models were great as well. I remember some of those. I hadn't a beat the Cooper...
00:05:36
Speaker
At one time, i am Paddy McGrath, friend of the show, set fire to the brakes of it on me. So thanks thanks for that, Paddy. Intentionally or or by accident? Well, we had it we had it we had a product day at Mandela Park and i put my ah Beat the Cooper in and and Paddy yeah was doing a few laps and and set fire to the brakes, but it's fine.
00:05:54
Speaker
Actually, I also, ah speaking of issues that have arisen and you weren't at fault here either, a man told me last night about a time you were in the back of a new Audi Allroad that ended up in the water.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yep, um that was the launch of the Audi Allroad and it was in Wicklow and where the place Tough Terrains was there. I think it eventually became Orange Works.
00:06:17
Speaker
But um we were I was sitting in the back of a and of an Audi all road and we were driving through a puddle um and water started to come into the doors and into the sills and and eventually flooded the feet.
00:06:32
Speaker
And some very embarrassed Germans were furiously and milling around but yeah that car ended up being uh being pretty much written off i think i don't think it was ever the same again but it had to be dried out um but yeah that was that was quite a few years ago that was about 2002 i think and that was a brand new car obviously yeah brand new car the uh the first out of all road i remember i remember who was driving it was probably the man who told you but i want to borrow some on air he He did say the instructor told him to keep going in his offence, but I don't know.
00:07:06
Speaker
Not the practice moment. Maybe there's a different outcome there. ah Look, it could happen to a bishop. It could happen to a bishop, but we will we will have Gaspar on the on the show in the coming weeks, I believe. so We look forward to that.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, Gaspar is the brand director um of Coopra Ireland. He works in Coopra in the UK and Ireland and Netherlands. And then he decided to actually settle and make Ireland home. ah Just looks after the Irish market now, but has a lot of experience in automotive and is from Barcelona, Barcelona, as he would say. but So very nice man, very charismatic, very funny.
00:07:38
Speaker
I often find as well, people, they they sort of nearly apologise for their English when they come to these things, but they're usually kind of looking at them going, what are you talking about? There's nothing English, you know? I wish it was other way around for most of us.
Audi A6 e-tron and Press Cars
00:07:51
Speaker
It's probably better than your Spanish, I suspect, right? Exactly, exactly. Well, yeah this week, i outside I have the new Audi e-tron, the A6 e-tron. And I'm in love, Mark. I have to say I'm in love.
00:08:03
Speaker
and I would defy anyone. And there's lots, I get to lots of comments on TikTok and you get lots of comments, I'm sure, on your YouTube videos of, you know, EVs are rubbish, EVs are scrap, EVs are, you know, no good. I would defy anyone to drive this car and not want an EV because they've absolutely nailed it. They really have nailed it. And in terms of everything, the interior is first class, the handling, beautiful. It's comfortable.
00:08:30
Speaker
It looks great. It's an Avant, so it's got a huge boot. It's got a huge battery, 100 kilowatt hour battery. So probably 600 kilometer car. Not sure about the 1800 euro virtual mirrors, um but the 2000 euro Bang & Olusum system with the speaker headrest is quite nice. Now, this is not a cheap car, Mark.
00:08:52
Speaker
92,000 with 20,000 euro of options. but i but So yeah, we're we're in another 14,000 euro. Isn't there a 70 grand-ish version? Yeah, there is. But I mean, the options list is where it all gets pretty fun. I mean, you're...
00:09:06
Speaker
for things that you would probably get on other models, like adaptive cruise controllers, the guts of 900 euro. And, you know, there's plenty of of other models that you'll get that almost thrown in, you know, so, so you, you would, the options, this is not for the faint hearted.
00:09:20
Speaker
Those mirrors, I i saw this car when you collected it on Monday and the mirrors, I haven't seen them probably on the original e-tron SUV perhaps. um So they're, For people who remember those mirrors, they're cameras basically, but they kind of protrude from the car quite a bit.
00:09:35
Speaker
They do. and And look, you're just thinking, you know, it has made me think where I've parked the car. You know, I i was going into Cork City Centre the other day and was like, hmm, don't know if I should park this in the street because it does, ah it would lend itself to, to some, somebody hit, you know, hammering it off. i I find they're really good though.
00:09:54
Speaker
I, I take you a couple of seconds to get used to them, but especially at nighttime, ah the clarity, the picture and, and their night ability is something that I think is really impressive. When I get them, absolutely not.
00:10:06
Speaker
And because, you know, it's just another thing potentially to go wrong, but, um but as a car, what a car. Yeah, it's kind of dark bluey green colour. Malpilo blue, apparently. so um But yeah, it's almost like but we would have called it a petrol blue colour, even though I don't know why.
00:10:25
Speaker
i don't think petrol was ever blue. m But no, stunning, stunning looking colour. yeah And just from your insight of doing this previous life where you would have been involved in deciding what goes on press cars, when someone in Audi was specking that car, is there, do you have to follow a certain list from Germany? Can you just go, you know, like like you've won the lotto?
00:10:47
Speaker
Are there any rules when you're specking a press car? Well, i I can only speak from how I did it. And and I went like I've just won the lotto. So, um, I did at the time, I did remember getting some compliments about how I spec press cars, but and no, usually look, you're, you're putting, you're showing as much of, of the car as you can.
00:11:04
Speaker
So there's no point, you know, in talking, to asking a journalist to imagine what the cameras are like, or imagine what the 21 inch wheels are like, you know, you you put them on and some dealer has the task of selling it on again. But, you know, in in the case of Skoda's, there were,
00:11:20
Speaker
certainly some dealers who really put their hand up for them. but But yeah, you would it's the option of of going crazy. I remember with the Volkswagens in particular, we would have one or two normal ones, and then there would be and one or two where you would just go absolutely batshit crazy and put everything on it.
00:11:37
Speaker
um And those would be wonderful cars to to buy secondhand because they were you know almost unique. yeah in other In other markets, there is a specific line for the press vehicles.
00:11:48
Speaker
It didn't apply to Ireland, but there would be um a specific line where the cars were thoroughly checked and and a certain standard of of of options had to be on it. But we had a little bit more leeway and in our own market.
00:12:04
Speaker
And rumours, of course, of that, ah particularly for mainland Europe, was that some brands, that knowing this car that they're producing, but like physical car would be going on the press fleece, there would be maybe a little bit of, uh, extra carpeting added in some extra soundproofing. Uh, it's, it's not unknown for that to have gone on and maybe still. do Yeah. I've heard it. I've heard it's happened. not necessarily from the ones I worked for, but I've, I've heard, heard it was the case. Um, but let's just say for some, for some brands that would be special attention paid to the ones that would end up in the,
00:12:40
Speaker
in magazine articles or in certain high profile TV shows, for example. Also, the weekend just gone, you were on a plane? Yeah, was it wasn't a and wast na hour I was on a plane. I flew to Newcastle with a good friend of mine and and went to a classic car auction over in...
00:12:59
Speaker
over in Newcastle and and you know what it was brilliant and it would be something that I would encourage anyone to do um my friend Robert he he goes over quite a bit buys a few classic cars himself but we um yeah we went over and um this place is you know couple of metro stops away from at the city center in Newcastle it uh you know four quid in I think it was something like that But I couldn't get over some of the stuff. I mean, it just makes you think, right, you know, in Ireland, we are really missing out on and the ability to pick up interesting, cheap cars and and, you know, just for a bit of fun. I'll give you a few examples. There are some of the the models you'd you'd certainly remember. So the Ford Mondeo ST200, really interesting car from 2000 that sold for
00:13:49
Speaker
the Chrysler Crossfire, which was, is a car only some, you know, some people would love, but it's an interesting car, which was, you know, 3.2 litre, um, SLK engine, probably pretty much a Mercedes SLK underneath. That was under a thousand euros. Well, i think it was 850 euro. and you know, I know a guy who traded, he traded a Mark four or 32 golf for one of them.
00:14:11
Speaker
And everyone was like, what are you doing? That was a mistake. Yeah, because the R32 Golf would be about 50 grand now. Yeah. Oh, like.
00:14:23
Speaker
Yeah, that was a mistake. But yeah, some of some of the stuff they had was incredible. And, you know, look it's it's the kind of thing that, now obviously you'd need the the ones that are over 30 years of of age for to make any sense because VRT wise and anything a little bit younger, God knows what you would get. But, you know, there was a beautiful TVR there, Chimera.
00:14:42
Speaker
um And I mean, this thing was Concours and that went for 12 grand. m There was some really, you know, the Boxster, really nice Boxster S was seven and a half thousand pounds. um so So, you know, but as a day out and there's other ones like Anglia car auctions as well.
00:14:59
Speaker
If you just wanted a nice day out, you know, the flight costs us 30 quid. We had our lunch in a... sort of dog and duck pub and we were back by half five, six o'clock in the evening on the Ryanair flight again.
00:15:13
Speaker
But a proper petrol heads day out. And though and you know you should check out some of those in the UK because they're really, really fun. you know I'm back by half five, nothing wrong with that. Yeah, brilliant. Like first half seven flight in the morning and half five flight back. We were and the easy to get in and out of. And it was just enough time, you know, to to see everything you'd want to see. So um look up some of those car auctions in the UK because they're great. and And again, if you can get a cheap flight into East Midlands or Gatwick or wherever, but the Newcastle one I would recommend because it's so easy to get to and really super cheap.
Upcoming Topics and Skoda Elrock
00:15:47
Speaker
ah By the way, i later on on this episode of the podcast, we be talking about couple of things, road safety in Ireland, which is, well, it's it's something that constantly needs to be spoken about. And our interviews will continue with the managing director of Volkswagen Ireland, Mr. Alan Bateson, who will be chatting to us about his career and working for VW for quite a long time now. And lots of lots of questions put to him a little bit later on in the podcast.
00:16:11
Speaker
and I have been and ah also we're getting a lot of feedback this week about Mr. Olivier Francois, who was our guest last week from Fiat. Some people were asking me and was he like was there anyone looking at him when he was just talking at freewheeling? I said, no.
00:16:29
Speaker
Someone asked him, had he had a glass of wine? I said, no and So if you missed that episode, catch it on last week. He was fairly honest. He certainly did freestyle them. And I can imagine being his PR handler, I would have been pulling my hair out a little bit, but, uh,
00:16:45
Speaker
But yeah, made good copy at least. and Car, you've been, i was just I've just actually finished watching the video of ah of you, Naby on Cars on YouTube, and is the Skoda Elrock.
00:16:56
Speaker
And that's going to be a big seller. and and And you're the first Irish journalist to drive the car in Ireland, of course, being a man of your stature. So and how so so how does it ah how does it feel being in the car on Irish roads in particular?
00:17:11
Speaker
It's nearly been a year since I drove it because I couldn't do the international drive of this car last year. I did do the cover drive um and that was back in Amsterdam, I think almost year ago. So it is actually nice to, you know, be on your own familiar roads, driving the car on what we call the right side.
00:17:27
Speaker
um And yeah, it's ah it's a lovely car. um I have noticed a couple of things about it that are probably part of cost cutting that we're seeing in lots of cars.
00:17:40
Speaker
And it was only, and this is the thing, you do kind of need a few days with a press car to kind of figure bits out and notice things. Taking for a few hours is just not enough. um So does everyone remember the little rubber handle in the boot of a Skoda for helping you close the heavy boot?
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah. It's gone. Gone. um There's no 12 volt charger. Now, I don't know if this is part of a pack. There is one in the boot, but there is one up front and there's no dash cam. So Scoda over the last years have been brilliant for putting a USB-C port in the rear view mirror housing plastic.
00:18:17
Speaker
And it means you can and easily hook up your dash cam. You're not putting cables through the the pillars or any of that. That's gone. Now, know if that was ever going to go in because it's a brand new model, but that was just the boo thing was that if they ever get rid of the umbrella in Skoda, there is going to be war.
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah, there will be war. There'll be mutiny. But and it it's it struck me from from what you're saying on the video that, and you know, obviously you can end up, the car can end up being quite expensive if you go up the food chain in it.
00:18:47
Speaker
and But for most people, you're still going to be going to be able to get something decent in the late thirty s Yes. am So my own parents have ordered one and there's one that's on the way any any day now. um And they certainly wouldn't have bothered with Sportline.
00:19:02
Speaker
Sportline is something that, you know, has really become very popular with Skoda. And it certainly improves the look of a lot of their cars. Sometimes it'll give you a a slightly lower suspension, you know, nicer bucket seats.
00:19:14
Speaker
With the L-Rock, There's a couple of interior packs that change the seatbelt color, much brighter interior. The seats are still actually quite bolstered, which again, yes, the RS will be a little bit nicer, but it's quite a jump.
00:19:30
Speaker
So instead of paying €800 for the different packs, think Loft is the standard one. you're going to It's going to cost the guts of of nearly €50,000.
00:19:43
Speaker
to get a sport line Elrock and that's where the price is just too dear and I get the sense from Skoda themselves Skoda Ireland that's they kind of agree they're like look if you put some nice wheels and maybe one or two levels up of the interior with a nice colour just keep it like that you don't need to get it a sport line obviously you can but I just don't know if it needs it but surely you can just kick up a fuss on YouTube and they'll drop the price by five grand on the sport line yeah I think that's how it works now not how it works and especially with a new model.
00:20:14
Speaker
um but But I believe Skoda are making 600 of these cars a day. Wow. So a huge demand. If anyone says there's no demand for EVs, that's it.
00:20:25
Speaker
It's not quite true. So, I mean, ah for all intents and purposes, it is a baby Enyaq. It's still got a 470 litre boot. It's got a turning circle as good as a Fiat 500. There's not as much rear leg room, but still very satisfactory rear leg room.
00:20:41
Speaker
um And it's a car that, you know, if you don't put a single option on it, after all the grants, it's €36,000 for the smaller batteries. There's three different levels of battery. i don't know if they're bringing the X version, the all-wheel drive version to Ireland. Are you in that car all week? Are you spending a lot of time in that week? Or is it just a brief drive? ah So it's I haven't been traveling this week, but I've nearly made what life as as as tricky for me. I have also out outside my house an Alpha Junior Veloce, which is the 270 brake horsepower version of the Junior.
00:21:13
Speaker
And I have an X-Pang sitting in MDL. and that I need to collect tomorrow. bra So I was thinking of maybe just buying a little transporter and I could just chuck all my cars on the back.
00:21:25
Speaker
and So I've been trying to dip in and out of them all, to be honest with you. um I guess the question is, and maybe one for next week is, is you've driven EV3, you've given, you've driven Elrock, you know, it'll be, which one is better?
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah, and people are asking me that on YouTube and it's a hard one to answer. i mean, they the Kia has... might need to put it to the test, will we? It'd be lovely. was thinking of this. it would be a lovely twin test.
00:21:50
Speaker
um So, yeah, get yourself a Kia please.
00:21:55
Speaker
um The Kia is no doubt more advanced in some of the tech on it. The software will probably be a little more robust, although I haven't had any issues with this car. I just want to clarify.
00:22:08
Speaker
But... um You know, if you were comparing it to Enyaq, in some ways, it'd be a bit more easy to answer the question. Like the Elrock has battery conditioning so you can heat up the battery on the way to a charger to get fast charging. and That wasn't a thing for Volkswagen Group EVs up till 30 recently.
00:22:28
Speaker
m You know, it doesn't have vehicles to load. The Kia does. and But also the Kia in a GT line is kicking the arse off 50 grand. So they're they're very, very similar on prices. I think it's one of those things that's really just going to come to personal preference.
00:22:44
Speaker
Yeah, the LROC is certainly it's pretty, but more conventional looking, whereas the EV3 is definitely a lot more radical looking as well. So that that might polarize it for sure. and I would imagine the Kia's battery probably behaves a little bit better in really cold conditions.
00:23:00
Speaker
and are we Is there a heat pump in the Not a standard. It's a 1200 optional extra on all levels. and Whereas on the EV3, on the GT line, I think, or certainly from maybe level two up, you do get a heat pump on the EV3.
00:23:14
Speaker
Yeah. so and um And I certainly was really impressed over the winter when i the EV3 was, you know, how it performed. You know, it was given consistent range, consistent returns during really, really poor conditions. So you really know, i think I find that with a lot of the Korean brands, you really know where you stand with the battery return. You think, right. Okay. This is, is going to return the 300 or 400 it's due to do without too much fuss. No no no matter what the conditions are.
00:23:40
Speaker
Now, ah the Coyote or the, there's just so many names on my head, the LROC WLTP figure is about 16 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers. And I saw that car yesterday doing and in eight degrees, 17.
00:23:52
Speaker
ah seventeen And that's the 280 brake horsepower version. And look, we're going to be getting to the stage soon, I think as well, where, you know, we're not to be too worried about range as much as we were, you know, once cars are getting over 300, certainly over 400,
00:24:08
Speaker
you shouldn't really be fretting too much about her where you're No, I don't think so. I mean, that car arrived to my house tonight with 500 kilometers range on it. And obviously that's, you know, a gasometer, but it's definitely from my driving the last few days would be a car. If I owned it, I'd be probably just over a week in between charges.
00:24:28
Speaker
Which is really impressive. You made the point in your video, but that, you know, you're talking about almost a tenth of the price. of filling it up in a Divertacom as compared to a petrol car, you know, a Karak version. Karak is a 50 litre tank. I think a litre of petrol at the moment is about 180 and yeah, it's a, you genuinely will be able to charge and fill that battery, technically speaking, for, for,
00:24:53
Speaker
We won't finish off part one of this week on it on a sad enough note in that we've heard this week that Ford are set to stop production of the Ford Focus November of this year after um almost 30 years. Mark, what what are your memories the Focus? It's that long? Wow.
00:25:11
Speaker
and My memory of the... 1998. Well, first of all, look, the the RS, obviously, was i still remember that episode on Top Gear back in 2002, I think it was. That was a 50,000 sterling car from memory.
00:25:24
Speaker
and It was just an iconic car. It was... Lux-wise, maybe a little bit ahead of its time. It did it did need a Z-Tec trim, you know, the the gear trim looked a little bit meh.
00:25:38
Speaker
But just the design of it, the alloys, the the front nose, the kind of crisscross grille, the way the rear lights went up into the higher, you know, frame of the car.
00:25:49
Speaker
Um... Dash was a little bit strange. i actually had one. I bought one in 2002. um The Dash was never You Mark one Yeah, yeah.
00:26:00
Speaker
The Dash was never particularly impressive. Particularly the Centenary. There's this bulbous kind of curve on it that housed your switch gear for the air and it was just too much space for like for three buttons really you know but it was Ford's new edge design philosophy but the there that was but I mean it was it was a groundbreaking design compared to the Escort yeah yeah I'm trying to remember the the first did they have Macpherson
00:26:32
Speaker
and um I think it one of the, there was definitely, there was a multi-linked. There was definitely something that i remember a big deal. It was independent rear suspension, yeah, which was new for and were new for the Focus.
00:26:43
Speaker
and And that first generation ran until 2004. Second generation, we got the RS featuring two and a half litre turbocharged five cylinder with 305 horsepower. what a car. Third generation came in 2011 until That was the EcoBoost engine, which on TikTok people are telling me how um they have all sorts of problems with, so not their finest hour.
00:27:06
Speaker
and But that RS model went up to 350 horsepower in 2016 with all-wheel drive, so quite a of performance. The second-gen ST, that was a 2.3 petrol, wasn't it? second gen s t that was a two point three patrol wasn't it Yeah. It was a five-cylinder, I think. Yeah, it was five-cylinder petrol engine, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Someone will correct us if we're wrong.
00:27:25
Speaker
But yeah, s the STs were really, really good examples as well. i remember they they initially the STs, there was an ST170, which was ah ah in the early Mark I, which was quite a fun car at the time. Yeah. The power went up significantly over the years. Yeah.
00:27:40
Speaker
I test drove one of them. i was trying to decide between a go Mark IV Golf GTI, which was 150 brakes, a little bit less, versus one of them. And the ST Focus was €35,000. The Golf at the time was €27,000.
00:27:56
Speaker
So there was quite an increase to get into that Focus, which just didn't make sense. And I was always i was always thinking of residuals. was like you'll sell a Golf GTI easier than an ST Focus. At the time, anyway.
00:28:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was probably VRT at the time, which made made the the Focus a little bit more expensive. but um But yeah, they that two and a half litre ST model has become a bit of a cult classic, really. You see that you know see a lot of the forums and lot of social media, people are talking about that as being a you know ah car to to covet. So yeah really, really fun car that to drive. Recaro seats, good alloy wheels, bright orange color, and it was the the kind of de Ford blue as well available.
00:28:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's a sad time. I mean, it's it's a bit like a lot of people learn to drive in ah in a Ford Fiesta, but I'd say a lot of people also perhaps learn to drive in their mother or father's Ford Focus. And right up to the current generation, they're a cracking car to drive.
00:28:52
Speaker
They are. They they made you know there were when it came out especially, and then as it's gone on, it was always the driver's car in the hatchbacks. It was much sharper to drive than something like a Golf or an Astra.
00:29:03
Speaker
and So, you know, but like the Fiesta, which was as well, the the the focus really was um the one, if you wanted to have a bit of crack and have a bit of fun in a car in a back road, that it just had a suspension set it set up, which which felt like a hot hatch, even if it was ah powered by a weheasly wheezy small petrol engine.
00:29:20
Speaker
Mine was a 1.4. I remember there was a 1.6. Then I think there was a, there was a two liter petrol. Yeah, there was, yeah. But yeah, it was, that was my last Ford. Then I, I'm fairly sure I left him then. Although I would still say the last gen Ford Fiesta ST 200 brake horsepower, I think.
00:29:42
Speaker
One of one of my favorite press cars I've ever had. Incredible fun. Yeah, what a car. And it was £29. So hopefully Ford, Hopefully Ford don't lose their way in terms of producing fun cars. I know the Capri was launched this week, which, ah you know, it's a fine SUV, but it's not ah it's not a fun car to drive particularly. But ah the the the end of the focus is down to, we we believe, SUVs and EVs and the focus ah will be on, pardon the pun, focus will be on EVs from here on in. Maybe we will see an EV focus, but...
00:30:13
Speaker
um for now the focus is no more a lot of people have said if they just called the capri the focus no one would have got very upset about it but obviously someone else knows more i am driving the electric puma uh next month in barcelona so i'll let you know i'll get on with that okay yeah that looks pretty good as well as well so yeah hopefully um hopefully it but might be reasonably fun to drive because the uh The Puma. Do you remember the original Puma?
00:30:42
Speaker
Yes. What fun little car. Yes. Yes. ah yeah And it was before your time, but there was a press car, the Ford Puma Racing. Yes. Which was one of the finest cars I've ever driven.
00:30:54
Speaker
It was a special ba built in the UK. If you find one, anyone finds one, buy one because it was outstanding. It had that, know,
00:31:05
Speaker
exhaust that sparked and cracked as you change gear um and it was wide was a wide body car with car seats amazing amazing performance car I haven't seen one of them in the longest time but yeah what a car and Yeah, amazing car. That press car got a hard time, I'm sure.
00:31:23
Speaker
No doubt. But it look, a reminder of some of the great cars Ford made. And now they're kind of in a bit of a I don't know, a midlife crisis of what what are we? what What do we sell in Europe? You know, um the Puma was the best selling car in the UK in 2023.
00:31:41
Speaker
you know, to to be talking about them and in kind of slow sales talk a mere two years on is kind of mad. Yeah, it is. And and no the fact that we have no Fiesta and now no Focus is ah is a strange position for for people of our generation to be in anyways, to hear that. Also, when we're looking at Insta, looking at ID1 All, we're looking at Datchez Spring and it's like they're kind of just giving up this space where they they owned it.
00:32:14
Speaker
I was talking to somebody recently who who sells cars for a living and and they were talking about people who just would come in every year. and or every other year and changed their Fiesta for maybe even the same colour again.
00:32:26
Speaker
And it was like, those customers have just left this dealership because they have nothing to offer them. And they're gone to, I don't know, yeah whoever. Well, they'll be in an Insta, I'm sure, because from from ah from talking to anyone who's been in the Insta, it's ticking a lot of boxes for people who've never even looked at an EV before. I've seen a lot of them on the road. I've been sitting in a cafe the other day for a about an hour and a half and I counted four of them driving past.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's an impressive car. So we're looking forward Focus No More. But i'm coming up after the break, what have we got, Mark? So Alan Bateson, a man who was he in, he was obviously in VW when when you worked there, but he wasn't involved passenger cars then, was he?
00:33:03
Speaker
No, he's commercial vehicles, boss commercial vehicles. um Really interesting character, really innovative, not afraid to take risks. and And I think that comes across when we speak to him later on. And if you ever meet him in person, ask him about his Bentley Continental GT story.
00:33:17
Speaker
That's all I think. We didn't ask him about that. No, I don't. We should have probably. i don't think he'll say it on ah on a podcast. But if you ever meet him for a pint, ah buy him a pint and ask him for the Bentley Continental GT story.
00:33:30
Speaker
He's coming Right, noted. Part two. Welcome back to the Drivers Republic podcast brought to you in association with Dundee Motors, Ireland's favourite website for car buying with more certified trusted dealers than anywhere else.
00:33:42
Speaker
You're sure to find the right car for you on Dundeele.ie. Don't know about you, Paddy, but the beauty for me of of the podcast and compared to the YouTube stuff, ah very, very different offerings for both. But it means we get to talk to people like Alan Bateson.
00:33:57
Speaker
Yeah, we're delighted to be yeah in Niffy Valley to talk to Alan Bates, who's brand director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars. Alan, thanks for joining us. Thank you, guys. Yeah, and you're very, very welcome to the headquarters here, to Volkswagen Passenger Cars.
00:34:09
Speaker
Thank you. Lovely view from Alan's office. isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's stunning, actually. yeah I can see the NCT Centre. And the Dublin Mountains. And the Dublin Mountains over that side. Dual aspect, no less.
00:34:21
Speaker
Yeah. So there you go. I think a good place to start, Alan, would be really with the heritage of Volkswagen in Ireland. There's such a ah such a heritage and and this year Volkswagen brand are celebrating 75 years and in Ireland.
00:34:35
Speaker
Talk to us a little bit about the the link and the bond between and Volkswagen and Ireland specifically. Yeah absolutely this year is a really important year for us so 75 years, one of you know one of the only brands in Ireland to actually be celebrating such a milestone. There's not many brands that have hit 75 years in Ireland yet.
00:34:55
Speaker
So we've so much heritage. If you look at it today, have approximately a quarter of a million people driving Volkswagens in Ireland on Irish roads, past your cars. And if you look at how many people have touched Volkswagen since we started in 1950, it's somewhere close to two million people have driven Volkswagen cars between either buying them new or the second cycle or third cycle in many cases, you know, because the average Volkswagen car is in operation for anything up to 15, 16 years on average.
00:35:20
Speaker
So it hits many, many owners over that time. and The heritage Volkswagen is part of many, many families in this country. We've seen that, done a lot of work for celebrating 75 years and marking this special year.
00:35:31
Speaker
And the people we've spoken to really have an affection for the Volkswagen brand and have a story linked to the Volkswagen brand. So i think that's what makes us the brand we are in Ireland today. you know I know you have a very special car in Ireland at the moment. Tell us about that, the Beetle that's here and and the story behind it.
00:35:48
Speaker
Yeah, so for people that know, the first Volkswagen ever built outside Germany was built in Dublin on the Shelburne Road. And that was built in what we call CKD or completely knocked down state, shipped out of Germany into Ireland.
00:36:02
Speaker
Taxation rules and so forth at the time made it. advantageous to do it that way and it was followed many other manufacturers in Ireland did the same type of CKD build but the first beetle that was built in Ireland, the Balls Ridge beetle as we affectionately call it was returned to Germany many many years ago and through permission of the board they gave us possession of this vehicle for this year, and maybe you never know it might not go back ever again but we have some really exciting plans we were out over the last number of weeks taking photographs in iconic places around Dublin and around Ireland with it
00:36:33
Speaker
and they'll be used for digital media in the future and putting together a storyline that properly does the justice to the Volkswagen brand in the 75th year. So Alan, let's jump back scene as soon as we're on a history lesson. Let's talk about you and your career, first of all. Have you always been an automotive person or has there been other career areas?
00:36:53
Speaker
I always have been automotive, but funny enough I didn't start there. So my father was an engineer and at the age of, I would say 13, 14, I was brought in on midterm breaks, summer holidays, to work with him in the engineering side of business.
00:37:07
Speaker
My life was to be a mechanical engineer. was to go to UCD to do it and about four weeks before I was to start that course I was working in Dublin airport and had the misfortune of an angle grinder being put straight through my knee and kneecap at full speed.
00:37:25
Speaker
and To this day the only reason I'm here is that it cauterised everything as it went through and stopped any blood flow. I was collected that day, I was supposed to play for St Vincent's, I was heavily involved in Gaelic so overnight my Gaelic career was finished.
00:37:39
Speaker
Paul Clarke, a famous Dublin footballer was the ambulance driver who collected me. And when I asked him, did he think it was a Thursday when happened, could I play on this Sunday? He said, I think it looks likely that we could get you on the pitch. And my leg was hanging off and Ray Moran, a very well-known orthopedic surgeon, took me into Bowman and over the course of a year fixed it. But at that stage I decided mechanical engineering wasn't for me.
00:38:02
Speaker
Cars was probably my first love, but then became automotive engineering and I went after that and subsequently went on to do business degree and law also. and then was taken over that course of time into Toyota Ireland.
00:38:15
Speaker
Started my career with Toyota and spent seven years with Toyota Ireland, then moving on to the Citroen brand and the Gown Group for seven years. And then 15 years ago today or this year, I joined Volkswagen when it set up as a national sales company. So I am now coming up to 28 years in the business. I loved every minute, would never leave the automotive business as long as I can stay in it or I'm allowed to stay in it.
00:38:37
Speaker
and most I mean, I know it's a podcast, but it must be an amazing scar. Yes, it is. yeah have A lot of stitches. and yeah It was one of those things and it's really led me to believe something. People talk about a glass half full, half empty. yeah Ray Moran said to me, you can be happy that you have a leg still attached rather than not having it. So, you know, you have to live in optimism sometimes and always try to be optimistic, you know. yeah I wasn't expecting that story.
00:39:01
Speaker
I think most fellas can feel that. yeah So in terms of your Volkswagen career, where did you start within the Volkswagen business? where Where was the first port of call? Yeah, so I was brought into the company. I'd done sales and after sales role, but a lot of my career was in the after sales area of the business.
00:39:17
Speaker
and I was asked to come in to try and give strategy to after sales and i remember sitting with you Paddy in the early days and we brought in something as simple as the customer promise which was 10 promises to customers in after sales we lived up to each one of them including price matching, independent repairs in terms of what the customer should expect when they come in for a proper levels of service and a real believer is you may have to pay a premium in some cases but you should get an amazing customer experience for and that's something we focused on and we developed a real strong strategy over three to four years in the after sales business and so on record results come out of it because we gave customers what they deserved. A lot of people who are listening maybe don't understand what after sales is or the benefit of after sales to a business. Can you give us an idea just simply what what the benefits of it are to a business? In many dealerships after sales is the profit generation that keeps the business running and you have to sell labour hours, you have to sell parts
00:40:07
Speaker
and they all generate a profit, but you have to find the right provision and price point to make sure that you're maximizing that. That's something we really focused on, giving customers an excellent service.
00:40:18
Speaker
And yes, sometimes it doesn't happen every time that's excellent. That's what our job is to try and strategically manage it. But I suppose after sales is key to any automotive business. You cannot have sales and you will not have sales if you don't have an excellent after sales provision.
00:40:31
Speaker
And that's what we worked on and we were open with the public of what we wanted to do, showcasing that 10 point promise that worked for many, many years. Yes, it's evolved over time, but it certainly gave the basis for some brilliant growth.
00:40:43
Speaker
a change of behaviour in terms of how we treat customers in terms of off sales. If they're not looked after and after sales, they won't return to buy the next car in the long run. you know I was actually going to say to you, is from your knowledge, is that a really good way of of retaining a customer if they do stay in the network?
00:41:00
Speaker
Are they more likely then to stay with you as a brand, go and buy their next car? Yeah, absolutely. It's how you manage the customer's expectations and it's how manage their relationship with the brand. you know Every product from any industry can give problems, can have issues.
00:41:18
Speaker
It's how you deal with those issues. And I always say that to dealers. It's not that you try to say that you'll never have problems. There is no product that is problem-free, per se. So it's how you deal with it and how you work with the customer.
00:41:31
Speaker
I'm very close to that. I try to live to try and assist any customer. Open, and I think you've seen that before, getting them involved directly with customers if they don't get level the level service that they should from Volkswagen. Full stop, they should deserve an excellent level of service after investing their money in a Volkswagen product, and I live by that.
00:41:48
Speaker
I have personally seen Alan send messages on social media to customers when things haven't gone. But it's funny, I have the subscription service for something to do with my YouTube channel. And last week there was something that wasn't working with it.
00:42:01
Speaker
And today I got an email from the company said, we're really sorry, we made a mistake last week and it wasn't available. Here's two months extra free. So you're getting 14 months instead of 12. And that's all it took to kind of go, all right, fair play.
00:42:12
Speaker
yeah And then you move on, you know. Absolutely. I remember back to one of my firsts and again, I think Paddy, you might have been, we had a customer that a timing chain broke and he wasn't getting the service that he should have been given and we got involved and we sorted it. And it's about if a customer is going to stay with you for life, you have to give them that level of service and ownership of problems.
00:42:32
Speaker
Of course, it's one of those things that, you know, someone goes down to the pub and tells their mates, yeah you know, they're going to tell them, you know, especially if it goes wrong, but they're also going to tell them as well if it goes right. And I suppose that's where is it kind of like so everything in Liffey Valley here very much controlled with the the brands.
00:42:49
Speaker
But then your brand goes out to a dealer and when things do go wrong, you can't always be in the dealership. Unless it's brought to your attention, it's out of your control and you have to just kind of trust them to manage and be responsible for your brand.
00:43:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think trust is the word there that I would pick. you know We can put standards in and we have very high standards on how Volkswagen dealer operates. But the one thing is to trust them to do it. And we have 29 passionate dealers, some of them 73 years with the Volkswagen brand just after it started. They didn't start yesterday and they are best in the automotive segment or sector in Ireland.
00:43:23
Speaker
And I trust them. her And that's why we see them dealing with customers, but you also have to give them the appetite to be able to deal with customers and do what's right. And gladly, they do. They go above and beyond. And nothing that you can write in a standards document or nothing that you can write in a PowerPoint or a bulletin represents what the Irish dealers do. They go above and beyond every minute of every day to deliver exceptional service, and they should be applauded for it. In terms of...
00:43:46
Speaker
doing the after sales role, how important do you think it is to have that grounding within that um side of the business before you can go on to roles like you have now? Yeah, I think, you know, as director of the company and the brand in Ireland,
00:44:00
Speaker
I think it's important that you have a 360 degree and it's easy to say if you read any business book they'll probably say that but you need to understand the full life cycle of a customer. It's not about just the day they come in and buy that car off you. It's not about the excitement of collecting that car.
00:44:14
Speaker
It's about the life that they have and the journey they have with you and that usually goes on average in Ireland four to five years on a new vehicle before someone starts to contemplate change even shorter on PCP but it's about understanding each of those touch points and there's so many touch points whether that's renewing insurance, renewing NCTs, all the services that we provide to try and assist the customer having a great experience and a better experience than competitors.
00:44:38
Speaker
From there you went to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and at the time I remember from being there you you had a lot of innovation within that brand in particular. is there a little bit more freedom in commercial vehicles to try things that are a small bit different than you would have say in in a passenger car model? There isn't, there isn't I suppose. that you know i suppose in commercial vehicles we came in at a time that There was a lot of change coming about. There was a lot of new vehicles, a ramp up. Amarok had never been in the market, so we added Amarok when it came in.
00:45:08
Speaker
And then a number of additions, right through to, in recent times, the ID Buzz and other elements like that. I think commercial vehicles, the customer spectrum is quite broad. You have a person that drives a van for services, such as a plumber or a carpenter.
00:45:22
Speaker
You have a person that drives a public service vehicle out of a commercial vehicle. But then it goes to the other extreme, where you have campers, that live their lives and surfers that utilize them. so It's a much broader audience with different directions where passenger cars are passenger albeit you will have people that have different interests.
00:45:39
Speaker
Just commercial vehicles, there's very specific niche vehicles that wouldn't but be represented in the passenger car offering. you The IDBuz recently launched as as a seven seater. Is it a vehicle that Volkswagen you think wish they'd sold more of?
00:45:55
Speaker
We'd love to get more volume out of it. It somewhat represents a niche look, I would say, in terms of its offering, but in its usability and the way it stands, especially in the seven-seater version, it's an amazing vehicle. and you know I've seen really strong interest in the GTX version that's been launched as a 7 seater.
00:46:13
Speaker
and you know i think it's a new vehicle into that segment. The segment is nearly recreated from where we came from many, many years ago with the T1. Paul and all the team, I know, are working strongly to develop a but certainly from what I've heard, customer interest certainly in the 7 seat, which is needed in that vehicle, is driving interest levels quite big.
00:46:31
Speaker
Seven seaters now I think it's about 67 which it's still big money but when you compare an electric seven seater in the market it's actually probably one of the lowest down the the price. I think all seven seaters you're talking 55 plus in most variants whether it's ice whether it's Bav the range that that vehicle offers and the adaptability of the seating plan and everything it just it really makes a really iconic vehicle work for the everyday family you know so.
00:47:00
Speaker
And what could potentially incentivize people to look at that as as a seven-seater that maybe they're not considerate now? are they aware of it, you think? Could there be more awareness? I think awareness is there. And I think with the seven-seater, seven-seater is obviously brand new, you know, and Paul has done a brilliant job in bringing it to the market.
00:47:19
Speaker
I think more people are getting in and test driving and seeing it. We are an SUV dominated market. SUV is what we like, but there's no reason that the ID.Buzz can't be a huge success. Certainly in the seven seater format, when you get into space inside is really, really stunning. is.
00:47:33
Speaker
I've driven that GTX version. It's um and in Germany, but it's, it's bloody quick. You don't expect a car that can carry that many people to shift and that quickly. from Moving on from commercial vehicles, that you've taken the top job of of Volkswagen passenger cars. There's a great responsibility obviously with looking after or being the guardian of a brand like that and and a big honor attached to that.
00:47:55
Speaker
How do you find the first period of your role I guess? Yeah, so I'm roughly 18 months into the role now and I came at a time of, you know, a turbulent marketplace and many turbulent winds coming at all automotive manufacturers and they continue today.
00:48:11
Speaker
and will continue for the foreseeable future. What we've brought is some certainty and new models and that is the big thing. I think everyone has seen the ID2 and the ID1 that you were at the launch last but Tyron has come now and many other evolutions of the current model range, T-ROC being the next one that will come later this year. so We're really focused on just a complete model recycle and with new models and new segments covered such as the ID2 and the ID1.
00:48:42
Speaker
You impressed me last year, especially with your kind of your, i suppose, honesty about electric. And it was 12 months ago, as he said probably more actually. And it was in in a kind of perhaps not just here across all brands was like, what the hell is going on with electric? If you were someone who wasn't sure with your vast array of petrol and diesel options, what would you say to them? Where where would you go and and why in terms of your next car? you know We talk about BEV, electric vehicles, and range anxiety, and many did multiple things, the infrastructure is there.
00:49:15
Speaker
I think you can find reasons for EV not to work for you. But I can also find 10 more reasons for every reason that it doesn't work for you, that it does work for you. And it works for everyone, but it is a choice.
00:49:26
Speaker
It's a choice that you need to make. But you know with vehicles coming in 87, well in excess of 700 kilometres WLTP and we can go down. It's viable. Even when we look at the ID1, if we think about that, we're talking about 250 kilometres. We talk like 250 kilometres is not suitable or not real. The average commute in this country, certainly in urban areas is 32km a day.
00:49:50
Speaker
That in theory gives you 6-7 days coverage without charging the vehicle. But I'm not saying it is the ideal solution to everyone. It's not as easy as going into a petrol station and filling up. But the future is electric.
00:50:01
Speaker
PHEV will come in. and you know We met last year and we were open and honest. Things were changing. But if you look at how we've changed things strategically, We're growing market share again. We have over 16,500 people now driving ID models in the Irish market. And PHEV is a stepping stone also for those people that are a little bit uncertain. And I wouldn't blame them being uncertain with all the news that's out there. The people that go against BEV, for whatever reason, I'm not saying they're wrong, but that's their opinion. You have to respect people's opinions. But PHEV really gives you that optimum, especially with our battery capacity of 120, 130 one range.
00:50:37
Speaker
Okay, we go from WLTP and we want to be honest, it's probably 100 kilometres real range. Yeah, but still. It's 100 kilometres. If you're driving 32 kilometres a day as the average person does, that's three days without charging.
00:50:47
Speaker
Two charges a week will cover your distance without going on to the ICE engine within that. so I think that's the derivative if we get a blend in retail. So we've doubled our volume of PHEV in the first two months of this year. We've grown our market share by approximately 2% in BEV.
00:51:02
Speaker
ID4 is still clear number one. We're doing all the things that we have to do, but we have to do more. And that's where the new models of the ID will hopefully assist us in the future. You were at the very forefront in terms of introducing BEVs to Ireland, Volkswagen, you know way back to e-golf um probably 10 years ago now.
00:51:19
Speaker
What lessons have been learned from from you your own perspective, from a business perspective about the introduction of BEVs? Because no one knew how it was going to go. It was a case of, like let's see how we went. you know What were the lessons that you took from from the last number of years? Two of them would come to mind.
00:51:35
Speaker
that BEV was heavily driven in the early part by first adopters. First adopters don't ask the questions because they've usually done a lot of their research in advance online for multiple hours and days in some cases.
00:51:49
Speaker
Now the customer that comes in needs to be educated correctly by our dealers and that's why we've trained dealers every year substantially salespeople after salespeople in e-mobility and what really is e-mobility and to be able to answer those questions because the customer coming in now wants to adopt but it's not like the first adopters they want to come across and they need to be told the factual correct information and not miss all the product and then be disappointed thereafter I think you make a very good point because I think at the start a lot of effort was put in to educating customers but as you say those people who were buying initially
00:52:22
Speaker
knew what they were after, had done their research. We're now in the stage where it's everyone else is starting to come in and and look at EVs. Not in a condescending way. i i think there's also probably a huge amount of the potentially buying car public there that are still very confused. And, you know, what is the difference between a PHEV and a BEV? Even something as simple as that.
00:52:43
Speaker
Like, for those that are into cars whatever, we get it. But I think people with passing interest or just a car for me is a mobility solution, they probably their heads are probably fried, you know? so And there is. There is such...
00:52:55
Speaker
a wealth of information going in so many different directions. you can be caught in one place not knowing where to go. and I think it's up to manufacturers to lead the journey. You've seen our survey. Our survey was professionally done and represented what people driving battery electric vehicles feel. We then came on top of that with numerous training development with staff across all our network and our head.
00:53:16
Speaker
office people, but then you see stuff like the approved used. We now certify, because the second cycle is only starting to happen in any mass now. Our 2021 models are coming back after three, four year cycles, and the customer now is different because you have a second hand customer that's buying a four year old.
00:53:31
Speaker
We're certifying the batteries, openly, transparently through testing machine. And you'll see that Europe will follow this in the years to come. They're talking about ah battery passport that will show the details of how The charging has been completed on the battery and the condition of the battery.
00:53:47
Speaker
We're doing that today in any of our 29 retailers. They will give you a printout. showing you how it's been charged, to what level it's been charged, and what percentage is left in that battery. And in the majority of cases, it's 95% plus after three to four years, even in e-golf, which you spoke about, 2016.
00:54:02
Speaker
twenty sixteen When battery technology was in its infancy, it's still holding a battery health of above 90%. I would encourage anyone who was, you know, if range wasn't an issue, what a purchase, because those those initial ones were almost hand-built in Dresden at the time. They were incredible cars.
00:54:18
Speaker
um ah This is kind of crystal ball stuff at this stage, but as you're saying there, sometimes ah a Volkswagen will have maybe three cycles at least. Do you think? So if you have a new ID.3 or ID.4, it's now three years old, four years old, that car goes into your dealership, goes out again.
00:54:35
Speaker
By that stage, when it comes back again, the eight year warranty could be up on it. Will dealers have to, or will brands have to create another level of warranty to kind of incentivize people?
00:54:49
Speaker
I think there's probably a triple answer to it. ah Extended warranties will be there, certainly, to give customers. We can't expect to deal with cars if we can't give dealers what they are sorry give customers what they're looking for. So think extended warranty will manage that somewhat.
00:55:06
Speaker
The other element I would say is within seven, eight years, when we really start to see mass second cycles and third cycles, I believe battery cost may even be less. Battery technology will have developed. It's moving at a pace that's never seen.
00:55:20
Speaker
And then there's a third option that battery storage in houses needs batteries. So these batteries, ultimately at the end of the life cycle of the car, they may not be able to power a car in 20 years' time, but there's no reason that they can't take energy from solar panels or from other electricity conversion devices and store them in the house because that's low demand electricity.
00:55:42
Speaker
You don't need to switch on a kettle to the same power that you need to drive an ID.4. So those batteries still will have a use for many, many years and that's part of our way to zero. That we don't just build batteries and then put them aside. They have to have a life cycle that goes on for many, many years to come. I think it was last year where a lot of the journalists would have had the Golf GTI first and then remember you arriving down to automotive team to take it for a spin.
00:56:05
Speaker
Was that your favourite VW to drive in the last few months? It has but I'll go up we don't sell it anymore and I miss it but The E in recent years was one of my favourite cars, it handled so amazingly. It's basically a wheel on each corner and ah very fast small electric motor on a very small car. you know it was ideal for anyone that needed that zip around car. I really enjoyed the GTI course and the Golf R, two brilliant cars. yeah We were in Mondello before and it's nice to get it off the road where you can actually drive it on a track and just a stunning car to drive the balance.
00:56:41
Speaker
the power to waste everything comes good in the gti rdr models you know it is a shame that our emissions have kind of made the gulf or such an expensive car now to buy but the use values on them are um like even a 2015 2016 they're still going for strong strong money like they're going to be sought after for for a while and yes you're also a fan of the eup paddy and if you neither of you guys are short so i mean if you guys can fold into it One of those cars.
00:57:10
Speaker
Yeah, no that the i but I was in my E up this morning um and and what a car still. and And I drive it from Cork as well, which is ah is is a challenge, but it can be done for sure. Talk to us ah about Volkswagen today and Volkswagen in the future. The the current lineup is really strong.
00:57:25
Speaker
But as Mark would have seen over the last couple of weeks, you know we have some really really interesting stuff coming. For people listening, give us a flavour of what's what's coming over the next period. We've learned from some mistakes, and I think we openly say that. you know Some mistakes with how we've built the vehicles, how we've designed some of the features on the vehicles, and we've listened to the customers.
00:57:44
Speaker
I think that goes back to the ethos of Volkswagen. It's about the customers. They develop... our knowledge of what we have to do. You've seen in switchgear and so forth like that where we've made changes, new Tyron is evidence of that, doesn't even the Tiguan before that.
00:57:58
Speaker
I think what comes next for us is T-Rock. It's been an exceptionally strong vehicle for us and it really covers us in that segment in terms of the SUV offer and the smaller segment.
00:58:09
Speaker
Then after that we really will expand the ID2, ID2 all, moving it forward and really doing it. I suppose the justice of having a complete model range from ID7 right down to ID1 and showing it clearly that our commitment is the BEV. Many manufacturers are offering different array of models but I think this will be the first manufacturer that has such a broad array to cover all vehicle choices.
00:58:34
Speaker
at the I'd say ID.1, everyone, which is ah like, i'd love to know, are they calling it or, and why why the change? Because even ID.2 was ID.2 all, surely on the the success now of ID.4 and 5 and everything else, they should just call it ID.1. But anyway, nine new models coming by 2027.
00:58:51
Speaker
Now, I'm sure some of that will just be announcements or launches of cars. They may not be on the road yet, but that's that's only, you know, it's what, 20 months? Yeah, and brands go through product offensives. It comes in a cycle of replacements and that's what we're going through at the minute. Tiguan has been such a you know a brilliant product for us but the new one is the best Tiguan in my opinion that we've ever built.
00:59:15
Speaker
and it just We cannot get enough of them for the Irish public and we're delighted to see the success of Tyron, the future is using technologies, using innovation.
00:59:26
Speaker
we brought in augmented reality to launch Tehran in our dealers because we didn't have the cars physically here. Before the first car arrived in the country, we had over 350 sold. Not one of those customers had actually physically touched the car, they'd seen it online, but using technology such as augmented reality, and this is the future, new innovation being used in our dealers, and we've we've done really well on it.
00:59:49
Speaker
The vehicles are better and better each time we renew a vehicle. We're learning from maybe things that customers have given us to say we need this improved or we need this. ID7 if you look at it, it's car that three years ago would have been 100,000 euro plus luxury car and now we've adopted that in to a sub 60,000 euro car and and that is the real benefit of listening to customers trying to find the innovation and technology that we can drive forward. Yeah, I haven't seen the Tyron in the flesh. it's And what the the versions they had at the launch, they weren't, well, there was an R-line there if you wanted, but the the bread and butter car, if you like, was one trim level up. And just the touch and feel of it is is pretty good. Yeah, I think the R-line with the specification that we've got, we've moved a lot of specification on the R-line models. We have, across the entire range now, we have 75-year edition models.
01:00:36
Speaker
So each one of them is loaded with a lot more specification to celebrate this year. As I said, we have to make a mark this year to say we are Volkswagen. We're 75 years with the Irish people. the 250,000 people that are driving us and the people beyond that that want to drive us we're going to give an offer and the specification levels have never been so high. you know In terms of the customer experience at the moment, yeah what what are you hearing from dealerships? PCP still a huge ah driver of sales for you guys or has there been any change in how people are acquiring their cars?
01:01:05
Speaker
Yeah, no, PCP is still a key driver, you know, obviously because you can split the payments up and reduce your monthlies. And Irish people, you know, I remember launching PCP 15 years ago, and i remember people saying, that'll never work.
01:01:18
Speaker
And now today, two out of every three cars we sell is on a PCP product, and they're returning customers. The usual term is 30 months, 31 months, but usually people change before that three-year window even expires on PCP, and we're managing that. The other thing, we have the strength of our own bank located...
01:01:34
Speaker
downstairs in this office and they are there to actually help help us and assist us in driving these products in. When you look at PCP the RV is guaranteed by the bank, so manufacturers in this country use the dealer to guarantee the RV. We have a bank that's bound by the Central Bank of Ireland and that is a real strength to us and that's why we push PCP because it's a really good product for customers.
01:01:54
Speaker
Tell us a little bit about your own style, leadership style, I suppose. you know In running ah a business like this, it's a big operation. you' You're managing a lot of stakeholders. you've a lot of dealers. You've got a staff internally.
01:02:07
Speaker
You're also, I would say, someone who's very tuned into the marketing and PR side of things. Tell us a little bit about your own philosophy in terms of running a brand like Volkswagen. you know You want to be the best brand in the Irish market or across Europe, you have to approach it with the right way and you have to lead in that way.
01:02:26
Speaker
You have to act as a leader. you know and delighted Funny enough, we're just after coming through International Women's Day and within the brand, We have more females working in the brand than males, which is a real testament.
01:02:38
Speaker
The other thing is the management team. And you know all the members in management team. I think we're the only automotive brand in Ireland to have a 50-50 split between female and male members of the management team. It's a real focus that I have.
01:02:50
Speaker
Talented people deliver talented results and deliver brilliant results in my management team. And every single staff member out there. And I try to lead by example. I try to drive them. I think you know outside this, I push myself, I'm a board member for Jack and Jill Children's Foundation, I joined them 11 years ago.
01:03:06
Speaker
I try to give as much back because I believe you know what goes around comes around. I'm a great believer in that with dealers. Dealers know me for 27 years. So when you add all of them things together, you have to be someone that represents a professional.
01:03:20
Speaker
offering of what the brand should do. You can't say to someone, do a brilliant job that customer if you don't try and do a brilliant job yourself, whether that's with a staff member or a dealer or someone else PR, or sorry, the press, motor and press. wish you could do it better every time. You try to do it better.
01:03:36
Speaker
You wish you could touch everyone. You can't, but you try and push yourself as much as you can. Mark, we had a Ray Lady on a couple of weeks ago. We did. Yeah, a man who's familiar with this parish. And obviously, look, it's it's a great place to be. Both Skoda and Volkswagen have had such strong market share in Ireland.
01:03:54
Speaker
um But Skoda, for ah such a closely related competitor, essentially, ah can come very close to VW share. And what was Ray's answer? He he said...
01:04:06
Speaker
I called them our frenemies. I think thing he said something along the lines of that. So is the feeling mutual, Alan? Of course it is mutual. I encourage competition, whether that competition is in-house or whether it's outside. Competition is what drives the performance of any good product or brand in Ireland or further afield. But, you know, Ray is right. Ray and all the team at SCOTA, I'm delighted for them.
01:04:27
Speaker
They're part of our group. They're what make Volkswagen Group Ireland such a big group. You know, 30%. or One in three cars nearly in Ireland are delivered this group. It's going to have had phenomenal run.
01:04:39
Speaker
Going from, you know, 6% historically, up to 8%, 10% and above in recent times. And they've had an amazing product offensive and product cycle change over the last number of years with brilliant vehicles.
01:04:51
Speaker
Yes, they're close to us, but that's brilliant. i can only be seen as a good thing. Together, if you add ourselves and Skoda, one in four people in this country buy either a Skoda or a Volkswagen. That's a strong statement when you add the market shares of the brands together. Will they come close to us? of course they will.
01:05:08
Speaker
But that challenges us, and it's an internal challenge that has to be held if we're going to be competitive. We have a long road to see ourselves into the future of automotive mobility between now and 2030 and beyond. So we need to challenge each other and yeah it's a lot of fun with Ray and the team and Skoda some days and some days more difficult. It doesn't sound like there's too many awkward moments at the water cooler at the coffee the coffee machine Paddy. It sounds like it's all fine, fine and dandy once everyone's selling cars which is the main thing.
01:05:33
Speaker
Actually just as final a question as you were touching on kind of your philosophy and and your roles obviously Someone once said to me before, you know, ah management is about managing up and managing down. For your overlords, essentially, is is that the bat phone to Germany? Did they call? do they like to take interest? Obviously, Thomas Schaefer has a bit of an Irish connection here as well. He does technically have an office here, I believe.
01:05:55
Speaker
yeah and So how hands-on are Germany? I think they're involved, we're seeing as a significant market. We're obviously owned fully as a national sales company as opposed to a private importer.
01:06:06
Speaker
They take a very avid interest with plenty of phone calls at different times the month. But they're focused on one thing, and that is driving the performance of Volkswagen in this country. That ultimately drives the performance to the customer and gives them what they want. And they take on board what we feed back and they try to develop solutions for Ireland that sometimes aren't the solutions for other countries because of our CO2 taxation we have to be slightly different we have to look you know where you can go to the UK and put 20 inch allies on something we may need to put 18 inch allies because if you put 20 inch allies it goes up two bands in taxation so they know the Irish market they work very closely with Thomas is a great supporter and brilliant to have him in our country but ultimately Thomas isn't involved in the day to day running it's more so my sales region
01:06:52
Speaker
and they're hugely proud of it. Next week we go to some and importer awards and we're hoping in Ireland might be lucky enough for the first time to take one of those awards after the performance has been brought about. it so Fingers crossed there. Well Paddy, if you see a man in ah a very nicely restored beetle driving around Dublin, it's probably Alan. Give him a wave.
01:07:12
Speaker
Alan, thanks for joining us. Perfect. Thank you, guys. Welcome back to the Drivers Republic podcast brought to you in association with Dundeele Motors with Ireland's widest selection of cars for sale from trust certified trusted dealers.
01:07:24
Speaker
The right car for you is on dundeele.ie. Mark, a topic we haven't covered yet in the podcast and one we really need to look at is the ongoing issue of road safety.
01:07:35
Speaker
and We know that the figures for this year are on the right path, but something that I wanted to ask you and you know something you and I have talked about before is the messaging and that's especially out there for younger drivers.
01:07:51
Speaker
We know from the statistics that young males are the most vulnerable group when it comes to road fatalities. Do you think that the messages that are being put out there are reaching or landing these people?
01:08:05
Speaker
and the The obvious answer is no. However, i I'm not naive enough to think that there aren't targeted ads available to companies. And if if they're not already doing this, then maybe this is the light bulb moment.
01:08:20
Speaker
But surely they've thought of this already. So like, are people under the age of 22 getting Snapchats about car road safety? Are people maybe on, have you ever seen an ad on TikTok for road safety or seatbelts or phone use or...
01:08:36
Speaker
Yeah, I have, but I just don't know whether they're necessarily coming from their peers. their they're they're often They're often a bit preachy or they're um you know they're condescending or they and you know they're they're lecturing. And I don't know if they're necessarily educating in the right way. and you know Do I have the right answer?
01:08:58
Speaker
Not a necessarily, but and I feel that especially... this one size fits all messaging isn't working. And, you know, certainly from, certainly the, look, the figures are, have improved greatly. I mean, ah you 2024, 172 lost to that their lives but this was you know, 365 back in 2006. So huge progress has been made, but we're still seeing the same people, the same types of roads where the incidences and fatalities are taking place. So something is still off.
01:09:34
Speaker
I think we could have do more in school as well and maybe as you say it's it's trying not to be preachy we can all remember being that age and you know there's nothing worse than a grown up so to speak coming in telling you what you need to do and not not to do so yeah you know is there someone that people look up to who could maybe do a tour of schools or you know multiple people who could do a tour of schools in fairness to them Opal have ran quite ah a clever thing in Mondello for the last few years where they will let you drive a car ah with an instructor
01:10:04
Speaker
From the age of, is it 16 or is it younger? think it's 16. No, it's much younger than that. it? Yeah, it's definitely younger. yeah um i think it's it's it might be as low as 12, but yeah, you're right. And I think it goes back to the point about driver's ed, driver's education.
01:10:21
Speaker
The sooner you can get people into cars, soon as you can get them to to feel, you know, the... what it's like to pilot a ah heavy vehicle on a road at various speeds. I think that, but you know, the the the kilometers clocked up when they're younger really has a ah positive effect. sticking in my mind, one of the most tragic road crashes over the last years in Ireland was the older brother who was bringing the the younger pals and I think one of his siblings. There was a Leaving Cert event ah and the car skidded and there was a lot of fatalities in it. But the report came out, I'd say in the last six months and
01:11:01
Speaker
you know The car wasn't a particularly old
Road Safety and Accident Analysis
01:11:03
Speaker
car. It was a BMW Coupe, but things like the tyres were worn down to the metal on on the car. um And and and i know it's probably deeply upsetting for the families involved in these...
01:11:17
Speaker
horrific life-changing accidents, but there is a little bit of learning when you hear some of what contributed to the crash. There was really heavy rain. There was, you know, a multitude of of factors, like a lot of accidents, not just one thing.
01:11:31
Speaker
m It's just deep. I think you've hit on a really good point there, Mark, because we don't get the full details, you know, and maybe that's to protect the families or maybe that's for, you know, for inquest reasons, but You don't often see that, you know, you we see, we hear news reports, okay, there was an accident over the weekend, single vehicle accident, we don't hear anything else.
01:11:52
Speaker
You know, if we were told the the vehicle hit a tree, the ah tires in the car were to fall were faulty, you know, that sort of information I think would be much more useful for people to learn because even if, you know, even if it's the message started seeping in that way, it's more useful than just, okay, one person died, there was an accident and then we hear nothing else of it.
01:12:13
Speaker
That's it. I mean, even if they could kind of make the statistics is not really the word, but just the factors a little bit more generic. So you maybe can't relate them to a specific fatality to protect that person's dignity and their family. But I do think we could do more to play out the scenario that led to a lot of like, like what is the biggest of the number of hundred odd that you listed there? Is it head injury? Is it Seatbelt, not wearing seatbelt. To me, it doesn't feel like seatbelt use lack of it is is is an issue. Certainly phone use. Yes.
01:12:48
Speaker
I was looking at the 2024 report on their old Safety 30 website. So 172 people lost their lives and that was compared to 180 2023. And 74% fatalities were male. and seventy four percent of the fatalities were male 26% were female.
01:13:03
Speaker
Highest age group was 16 to 25, 28%. The time of day, almost a quarter of fatalities occurred between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. And the weekends are the most dangerous. 47% of the fatalities took place at weekends.
01:13:20
Speaker
So, you know, we there's an amazing amount of of of data out there. That is a lot, yeah. But I'm not sure it's being used in the right way. When you talked to about seatbelts, 50% of the and fatal fatalities, there was evidence of seatbelt use.
01:13:36
Speaker
and There was 5% had no seatbelts, but then they it was indeterminate whether the others had used seatbelts or not. So... um which is a strange figure to read that they're not such a high percentage. They couldn't tell, you know, that was, that was interesting. Take it from for someone who has been hanging upside down in an overturned car with a seatbelt mark right across their jacket.
01:13:59
Speaker
ah And I can still remember the force of your body trying to pull you down with gravity and the seatbelt just totally locking you into place. I mean,
01:14:10
Speaker
the idea that someone would get into a car and not have one on is just, it's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. But as you say, there's a lot of info there. yeah You know, is someone kind of forensically going through that information and trying to make awareness, you know, whether it is tires, phones, distraction,
01:14:28
Speaker
ah taking drugs, whatever it is. I mean, ah even if you look at some of the guard activity over the last couple of years, you know, they launched their fleet of Golf GTIs.
01:14:39
Speaker
They didn't shy away about it. They kind of, they they have that Golfor branded car with, you know really high visibility. um I think I even saw a guard a tractor at the ploughing last year. I think the golf war was there as well.
01:14:53
Speaker
But, you know, they're they're trying to, suppose, level with these ah younger fellas who, you know, there might be a little bit of speed. And look, Paddy, I'm sure you're the same. i was lucky enough to have some nice cars when I was in my 20s. And was I always...
01:15:08
Speaker
an angel and no but I always felt things were calculated in terms of you know okay I might push on here but it's it's a quiet road I know it whatever it is not not the right answer either but you know we'd be all naive to assume that so Everyone who gets the keys to a car is going to be on their best behavior all the time. There's bravado, there's testosterone, there's showing off.
01:15:31
Speaker
you know, that's just lads. That's never going to change. no it's not. And it's interesting to see their recent campaign of where they dropped this the speed limit on rural roads from 80 kilometers to 60 kilometers per and in many cases.
01:15:46
Speaker
They had some statistics around that which were interesting as well. So they said between 2019 and 2023, there were 69 driver fatalities in single vehicle collisions in private cars on 80 kilometer roads.
01:15:57
Speaker
Of the 69 drivers who were killed, 59% were aged to again. fifty six ah drivers eighty one percent were male 47 drivers were the only occupant in the car at the time of the collision and 33 drivers lost control of the vehicle. So there's some rationale behind the drop from 80 to 60.
01:16:18
Speaker
Will it be policed? Will there be detections on these roads as a result of this drop? I don't know. And then that's that's been a lot of the feedback and on social media when you see it is that this isn't isn't workable because...
01:16:29
Speaker
Truth be told, lots of people feel they won't be be caught. Yeah, the Garda numbers for Traffic Corps maybe aren't there. I don't think it's directly linked to the the fatality aspect by any means, but also the the red light breaking is just, it's crazy. I don't know what. like It's like as if the last five years, someone just decided, right, we don't do red lights anymore in this country. You have like a three second grace period where you can drive through that red light. Nothing's going to happen.
01:16:53
Speaker
It's just weird. But also someone who's um a bit of an industry legend in these circles, Aidan Doyle. I met Aidan a few months ago and Aidan worked in the marketing end of automotive for all his career, pretty much, for a brief stint in the FA, I believe.
01:17:08
Speaker
um And he made a point when I last met him, one of his daughters had passed a driving test and he said, just give us a look there at what you got in the post. And um it was just a certificate of competency and your license.
01:17:20
Speaker
And he just posed the question, you're given a lot of the time it'll be a young person getting that license in fair place and we're passing their test, but they're getting the keys of the castle there and there's no words of wisdom or advice or, you know, ah a reminder of the responsibility. It's just, here's your license.
01:17:39
Speaker
knock yourself out. But I guess it goes back again to the, you know, should they have had this grounding when they were 13, 14, 15 in secondary school so that, you know, they are been given the benefit of the doubt when they when they are competent enough to pass their test at a later stage.
01:17:55
Speaker
But as you say, you know, there can be lots of people who are passing their test who haven't really had the miles or kilometers under their belt. um And that might be leading to some of the problems. Look, we know, you know, without getting too biological or psychological about it. We know know brains aren't developed when they're teenagers or adolescents and and you know that there isn't there's a lack of sense as well. So um i don't know, we're going to have to find a way to try and reach ah to to reach them. And i think I think earlier tuition is the is the way forward. I think that yeah that is something we could definitely do more of. I know certainly when my kids are old enough, they'll be brought to that Opal thing if it's still happening when they're older and ah just to give them a feel. And I've always tried to
01:18:39
Speaker
like they obviously in in my job see lots of different cars and stuff you try and teach them about road safety where you can but they are still quite young but ah yeah I mean look we we talk to kids about birds and bees in school so let's talk about something that almost weighs two tons and can kill you if you or other people you don't treat respect I think it'd be good for us to to do this again.
Future Plans and Audience Engagement
01:18:59
Speaker
we might We might get someone from the RSA on. We might get someone from Angardish Iacona on. I think it'd be interesting to to to hear the stories of what they see out on the roads as well because um you know we have one viewpoint, but it'd be good to hear from Angardish Iacona in particular to just to you know to see what they're facing out in the roads. Yep, yep.
01:19:19
Speaker
I can only imagine. Well, we squeezed a lot into this episode again. Yeah, we did, and for sure. But ah yeah, certainly if you want to get in touch with us and, and and you know, have some feedback, do email us on driversrepublicpodcast at gmail.com. Paddy's a great man for email addresses. cm he'll He'll check it. I'll probably forget.
01:19:39
Speaker
ah Next week on the episode, was going to say the show show episode. ah Next week on Drivers Republic Podcast, we will be talking about the Dacia Bigster because I'll have just returned from Marseille where I'll be driving that car. So it's...
01:19:52
Speaker
It's the first dacha ever to have a sunroof. I know. da've i've I've hung on that from your videos previously. i remember you saying that before. It's it's the nugget of information about the bigster that I've held on to for dear life. So thanks for that. and So I'll let you know what it's like and lots more. And look, thanks for listening. ah Feel free to share this podcast with anybody.
01:20:14
Speaker
m I was talking to someone recently, just briefly before we wrap up, who watches and listens to all their podcasts on YouTube. So it's something that we yeah we might look at getting the podcast onto. Not necessarily video. Video, this this guy was like, oh, video would be great as well.
01:20:28
Speaker
Just don't know if anyone needs to see us in our little spare rooms. Yeah, we can look at that at a little later stage, but it would ah it would would ah remove some of the mystery, I think, for us.
01:20:39
Speaker
On that note, thank you for listening. We'll see you next time. Take care.