12:00 pm, February 20, 2018
THE president and CEO of Hyundai UK has outlined the future of the marque’s retail – including its split from Rockar.
Speaking at the Hyundai Future of Retail event at the Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham yesterday, Tony Whitehorn announced that the two brands’ collaboration on the shopping centre store project had come to an end.
Hyundai, which holds the lease on its stores in centres such as Bluewater and Westfield, will hand management over to Motorline, which will retain the same staff and branding at all locations.
Meanwhile, Rockar is moving on to help develop retail solutions for Mitsubishi and Next, as well as continuing its partnership with Jaguar Land Rover.
The two companies will maintain a strong relationship and Hyundai will still work with Rockar on a consultancy basis.
Simon Dixon, founder of Rockar, said: ‘When we first sat down, I said we’re going to do this together but some day I believe you will take this off us, you will do this. Our vision has been how will we support the change in this industry?’
Whitehorn added: ‘It’s been great working with someone who’s like-minded to move the entire entire industry on. We’ve had some really great times together doing that.’
Moving on to the topic of Hyundai Click to Buy, Whitehorn explained how the marque was streamlining its completely online sales process.
The updated system will include every specification of every Hyundai model and will be focused on being stress-free, transparent and easy to use.
From April 2018, each dealership will have their own page on the Click to Buy site. The dealer will have full control over what vehicles they display there and how they are priced.
However, Whitehorn made it clear that there would not be any sort of price comparison function. Customers will be able to choose their nearest local dealer or any other dealership they wish, but won’t be able to directly compare their pricing.
Whitehorn said: ‘It is not a comparison website. It is very much about where you are, looking at the customer services you want, going into that dealership, and that dealership giving you the price they offer.
‘You can then come out and then go into another dealership. We’re trying to get the virtual customer journey that you would get normally.’
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