Isuzu Ute Australia managing director Hiro Kuramoto

ISUZU Ute Australia (IUA) says it can continue to grow its yearly sales at a rapid rate by focusing on improving the experience and expertise at its existing dealers, rather than expanding its dealer network further.

Since launching Down Under in 2008, IUA has expanded its dealer network from 38 dealers to 141. But managing director Hiro Kuramoto told GoAutoNews Premium that the manufacturer was happy with the current number of sites.

“Quantity wise, we’re finished,” he said. “Ten years ago we only had 38 dealers, and today we have 141, so it’s not going to grow much more.

“We are looking at quality, not the quantity, so that’s the direction we are heading to.”

When asked what improving the dealership quality would involve, Mr Kuramoto said: “(It involves) many things. Facility wise, and we have to make more investment in human resources, that means more training which results in customer satisfaction through service and sales.”

He added that IUA used KPIs such as a customer satisfaction index and sales satisfaction index to measure the improvements of their dealership experiences.

IUA has long performed well in customer satisfaction surveys. In October last year it placed fifth in Roy Morgan’s automotive satisfaction report, which ranks brands based on more than 40,000 interviews.

Mazda topped the survey results, followed by Volvo, Lexus, Skoda and IUA, which recorded a 94.7 per cent satisfaction rating, down 0.7 per cent on the previous year.

For February 2018, the most recent month recorded by Roy Morgan, IUA has climbed back to second place behind Skoda and ahead of Mazda, Suzuki and Subaru.

It has performed strongly in past Roy Morgan reports as well, such as joint second place behind Lexus in the 2015 survey.

With the growing success of its I-Venture Club 4×4 driver training program, IUA has handed more responsibility to its dealerships, with select dealers starting to run the programs themselves.

MU-X

“By (head office) doing it alone it is kind of limited. So we are asking our dealers to back their own I-Adventures,” Mr Kuramoto said.

“So we are trying to transfer our know-how to them and try to have the dealers do their I-Venture Club on their own.”

The program was created by IUA to help teach owners the basics of four-wheel driving and the capabilities of their vehicles. IUA says it is the only 4×4 training program in Australia run by a vehicle manufacturer.

In the past every I-Venture Club event was run through IUA’s regional offices, but recently dealerships have run events as well, resulting in more trips in various locations in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

I-Venture Club

More than 100 events have been run since the program started in 2015, with 2139 customers attending. Approximately 25 of those events have been held through dealers.

While the I-Venture club events started as either single-day or overnight expeditions, customer demand has resulted in IUA branching out to longer-format events, such as a four-day trip to the Victorian High Country last month.

Upcoming events include one-day trips to 4×4 adventure parks in Victoria and South Australia, as well as trips to River Island in New South Wales, Moreton Island in Queensland and Lancelin Dunes in Western Australia. Two more long-format trips are planned for 2018.

Typically around 12 spots are available with positions usually hotly contested, according to IUA. The High Country trip in particular sold out in a matter of days.

The I-Venture Club was created as a result of inquiries from customers who wanted somewhere safe to test out the capabilities of their vehicles and learn the basics of four-wheel driving.

By Robbie Wallis

D-Max