Infiniti has taken operational control of its UK Centres based in Reading, Birmingham, Stockport, Leeds and Glasgow.
All retail services previously offered at these centres by Rymco UK Limited and Mana Premier Automobiles Limited are now being managed through, Rose Kiln Retail Ltd; a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infiniti’s parent company, Nissan.
Vice president for Infiniti Europe, Middle East and Africa, Francois Goupil de Bouillé, said: “This is a change that reflects Infiniti’s commitment to establishing the brand and its products in the UK and in Europe overall. It is another building block of our business model.”
Operations will be led by new managing director Brendan Norman who will be reporting directly to Francois Goupil de Bouillé from January 1.
Norman said: ”Having direct control will bring us closer to our customers and allow us to adapt quickly in the fast-changing retail and digital environment. We have many exciting plans for Infiniti Retail and I look forward to disclosing some of these steps in the not so distant future.”
Staff will transfer over, providing stability and continuity for new and existing customers. Infiniti owners who already enjoy the exceptional customer service offered by the centres will notice no differences.
The Infiniti network around the UK is continuing to grow, with new partners signing up. In addition to Reading, Birmingham, Stockport, Leeds and Glasgow, Infiniti has centres in St Albans, Norwich, Newcastle and Hull and Infiniti Maidstone will open in early 2015. Further openings are to be announced.
CGH - 10/12/2014 19:32
For all the above guff from Messrs Norman and Goupil de Bouille, above, read: Rymco and Mana Premier simply weren't prepared to stand the losses any longer. Total registrations this year of 667, including demo's and pre-reg's tells its own story (that's 421 behind Maserati!). Mind you it's better than the total of 386 for 2013. Illustrates once again that you can have the most lavish, expensive showrooms but the cars still need to be as good as the opposition you're selling against. Infiniti's aren't. The problem for the remaining dealers is whether the factory-owned sites will now be offering deals they can't match on both new and used: It happens with other marques.