3:18 pm, February 25, 2025
Waylands marketing boss Vicky Hart said new EV product is bringing in a different type of customer to its business, in the first of a new series of podcasts from Car Dealer.
For a dealer group such as Waylands, its product line-up has gone through a drastic transformation in a short period of time. Its brands – Volvo, Polestar, Kia and MG – have kept their safe and reliable image while completely reviving their look with high tech interiors, futuristic design and a whole lot of electric power.
Hart appeared on the first ever episode of Driver Her Success, a new podcast series where Car Dealer interviews women working in car dealerships about their careers, why they chose to work in the industry and advice for other women.
You can listen to the episode in full by clicking here or on the player above.
The Waylands head of marketing and digital has been in the role since August 2024 but has worked for other dealer groups and automotive businesses. She shared how she got into the industry, how she’s seen it change and what’s the most important marketing resource in the business.
She explained that buyers’ decisions are driven by a wider range of factors than dealerships would have traditionally seen.
Hart said: ‘From a marketing perspective, that’s the bit that’s really interesting with EV product. We’re finding across all of our brands, it is bringing in new customer types.
‘We’re learning all the time as well about the different demographic groups that we’re seeing now, everything from people who are buying EV product because they are early tech adopters through to people who are buying the vehicles because of the environmental and sustainability element.
‘Actually it is a really interesting transition across all of our brands in terms of understanding the new audiences that we’re seeing into that product.’
Hart spoke on the podcast about the challenges the industry is facing, particularly how the ZEV mandate is driving change.
‘The EV piece is the obvious one [issue], because we are moving to a position driven by the ZEV mandate meaning we are really heavily focused on clearly promoting our EV product.
‘We’re incredibly fortunate to be partnered with brands that have fantastic EV product. So in that sense, I think at Waylands that the challenge is slightly lessened because we have a fantastic and very compelling EV offering.’
Drive Her Success, sponsored by Carwow, spotlights a different woman working in a car dealership or group each week. Throughout the series we will talk to women working in different roles from working with customers on the shop floor, to behind the scenes, and managers, directors and business owners.
