The new kid on the block
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How’s the new MD of Renault Trucks getting on with British operators?
Words: Justin Stanton / Images: Tom Cunningham
IF ANYTHING, MARC Martinez comes across as more Gallic than his predecessor Laurent Farman. In the space of four years, the latter oversaw something of a turnaround for Renault Trucks in the UK, losing the historic reputation of selling trucks too cheaply for market share gain, and in turn gaining a solid footing both in terms of market share and reputation.
Renault was the star performer in the truck registrations league table in 2010: tractor registrations improved by 84%, generating an extra three percentage points of market share to reach 10%.
After 22 years with Renault, including a ive-year stint as MD of Renault Trucks France starting in 2005, Martinez landed the plum job of MD in the UK in July 2010.
A new experience
His challenge is to build on Farman’s achievements, while losing none of his predecessor’s hard-won ground. The signs so far are good.
The UK market is, in his own words “a new experience, a new environment”: he’s never worked outside France before. But any culture shock he might have felt upon his arrival last summer is no longer evident.
How has he found the UK market in comparison with his career in France? He answers: “The mix of customers in the UK is different because the key accounts are more important. In France, 20% of the market is key account, whereas in the UK it’s 50%.” He notes that, for Renault at least, the improvement in truck sales in the past year is more due to key accounts releeting than retail customers.
Renault’s UK customers are much more interested in acquiring trucks as part of a package (R&M, etc) than its French customers, Martinez reveals. Furthermore, French operators are keener on owning the truck, while UK operators are more likely to view a truck as a tool that helps them offer a service to customers, a tool they don’t need to own.
He offers this observation: “UK operators are more sensible [about fuel eficiency] than French. I think we will have more success with Optifuel in the UK than in France.” He notes that clearly Renault competes against the same rivals in both countries, but “our network is different in the UK [in terms of relative scale]: 330 service points in France compared with 68 in the UK” .
Investment in the network is key to Martinez achieving Renault’s shortand medium-term targets in the UK. More service points are needed: Martinez estimates a further 15 service points will be necessary over the next three years if Renault maintains its share at current levels.
Future strategy
So, let’s talk about market share. “We’d already reached 6.5% when I arrived in the middle of 2010, and we continued to push, reaching 7%,” he says. “At the end of February, we reached 8%. Our strategy is to maintain this market share, not to grow it.” He’s aware of manufacturers in the past that have signiicantly grown market share one year, then lost the upside the following year because of their inability to maintain that increased parc from a static network.
“We will try to maintain a share of 7.5%, maybe 8% in the coming three years. 10% is not a reasonable target yet: we need to prepare our staff and our network to satisfy our customers. If we grow too quickly, we cannot satisfy all our customers. We need to improve our brand rather than increase our market share.” How will Renault achieve this? “We have a huge marketing action plan that will make us more visible in the market,” Martinez reveals.
It’s all too easy to sell 50 trucks to an aggressively expanding haulier today that goes bust next year, so Martinez and his team are actively identifying the operators they want to supply to – those that are proitable with a clear strategy of their own.
“We want to build a strong relationship with them,” he says.
The next generation of Renault trucks, due for launch at the end of next year, will contribute positively to the ever-im proving standing of the brand in the UK, he says. The launch of the new range, and subsequently Euro-6, means Renault will invest in a huge training plan for the technicians in its network to ensure they can handle the new technology.
In conclusion then, what’s his message to operators that doubt the quality of the French trucks? “The Renault brand is changing, the product is changing. Operators that don’t know Renault trucks should test our product, because I’m sure after a month their bottom line will be better. We’ve seen eficiency improvements of up to 15% with some operators when they trial our truck against our rivals’ . All operators should test our trucks.” ■