TOYOTA and Lexus fleet boss Ewan Shepherd reckons Toyota and Lexus are changing. They’ve not forgotten their Sally Sensible hats – but now have emotional appeal too. Which is why SMEs should reconsider the brands Ewan explains to editor Ralph Morton.
THE quips came thick and fast from colleagues as Ewan Shepherd basked in the afterglow of a bravura performance on the set of the Toyota and Lexus Fleet Conference at Birmingham’s NEC – typical was ‘great performance: when do you get your equity card?’
The morning had been a non-stop theatrical presentation of new Toyota and Lexus product coming our way, as well as a new determination to put a bit of zip and emotion behind the brand. In fleet boss Ewan Shepherd, the company seems to have found the human face of this new passion as he played ringmaster on stage to the new face of Toyota in fleet.
Toyota – we know the key virtues of the brand: dependability, reliability, low running costs. All good stuff. But hardly motoring metal to fire you’re imagination. Ditto Lexus. But posher.
It’s something Ewan, who is the general manager of Toyota and Lexus Fleet, is acutely aware.
“We’ve been reviewing our position in fleet and asked for feedback from our customers. And the typical comment we received was: ‘the cars are great but not front of mind’. So we’ve decided to re-evaluate the brand, and put emotion and passion into the mix, as well as those attributes for which we are well known.”
So now all Toyota and Lexus products will be driven by ‘waku doki’ – translated that means ‘fun to drive’, and have a new and sleeker design language to reflect this fact.
If they’re anything like the promise of the new GT 86 sports car, then that will be exciting indeed (see our news story New GT 86 sports coupe blasts a hole in Toyota’s grey image).
And the whole of the Toyota organisation is to be underpinned by the slogan ‘always a better way’.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can hear you saying – seen and heard this stuff before. Company slogans quickly forgotten under the pressure of day to day business at the sharp end where business customers meet Toyota staff.
Cue another equity card moment from Ewan – “We are passionate about the customer comes first,” he responds warmly and emotionally. “We really do believe it and it’s central to making Toyota and Lexus fit for fleet.”
Fit for fleet: that’s for big corporates, isn’t it Ewan? What about those SME customers that are the backbone of the UK economy? That’s whom we’re interested about – not the plc corporates.
“Our primary route to market will be SME – the 3 or 4 car fleet,” Ewan responds. “It’s actually central to us.
“Our primary focus is our business centres. We wanted out business centres to bring customers to this fleet event. We said you could bring 10 SME business customers per centre – the average business centre brought 5 customers each. So I hope that helps you understand how importantly we take this sector.”
Business centres and the SME
Ewan says that the company’s business centres – there are 90 of them around the country – each have one business specialist who is trained in company car tax and equipped with a variety of tools to help SMEs make informed decisions about their business cars.
“In addition to our business centre specialists, we have contract hire offers around Prius, Auris and Avensis which are the best available in market.” Typical examples include the Auris Hybrid for £253 a month on contract hire and the Prius at £324 a month on contract hire. And if you don’t want a business lease, there are personal lease deals available, too.
What’s going to work with SMEs?
Ewan reckons that the company’s expanding range of hybrid models are key, including the new Prius seven seater – an MPV or versatile estate car. “Companies can save on hybrid running costs and National Insurance taxes, and business drivers can save on company car tax,” says Ewan.
“In practical terms we have the revised Avensis, which has improvements in noise, quality and lower emissions 119g/km CO2 diesel engine which is ideal for company car drivers.
“Meanwhile business owners can save up to £9000 on a conventional SUV by choosing the RX hybrid model – easily the cost of a really decent family skiing holiday.
“For local workforces, the new Hilux is more livable with than before and can do a better job than the previous model, so we have a good offering for every type of small business.”
Then there’s the new Toyota and Lexus fleet service charter which formalises the offers available to all SME customers, large or small, available through all Toyota and Lexus centres.
This includes comprehensive insurance for demonstration test cars and a follow up to answer questions; a web portal showing the number of cars on your fleet with key operating data; free courtesy cars or free collection and delivery while your car is being serviced; capped labour and oil rates; plus no charges for screen wash or wipers.
Clearly these are the back up areas where Toyota and Lexus are already well-versed – and the new service charter makes those offerings more visible.
What Ewan still has to convince the SME market is on the emotional appeal of the brand. Although the new GT 86 sports car could do that quite happily on its own.
“The GT 86 represents the new appeal of Toyota,” says Ewan. “There are no gadgets but raw fun. Yet the GT 86 has CO2 emissions of just 160g/km so it’s under a key tax break, the car will do 37mpg and it will arrive with a £25-£26,000 price point. We have an allocation of just 5000 for 2012: already we have deposits for 2000 of them.
“As well as our new range of cars, we’re passionate about the customer coming first. The combination of the two will make us – that’s Toyota and Lexus – a truly compelling consideration for SME firms.”
Let’s see how those SME businesses respond.
