How Thames Jeep kept sales rising in 2020’s challenges

The lockdown months in 2020 meant that many retailers will have emerged from the year with managed expectations regarding overall registrations.

This makes Thames Jeep’s performance in 2020 all the more impressive, as the Slough-based retailer managed to improve on its 2019 sales figure. To put this even more into context, Jeep as a brand recorded just seven new registrations for April 2020 in the whole of the UK. It’s little wonder that Thames Slough was recently named the Retailer of the Year in the Jeep annual awards.

Although he pays tribute to his team, Sanjay Sobte, managing director of Thames Slough, doesn’t put the improvement down to any one factor, saying that it was part of a wider gradual progression from the four years since the site opened, with used sales being a particularly strong element of 2020’s performance.

Varied stock profile

However, he also points to the wide variety of stock that the team keeps on site.

“With Jeep if you look in our showroom we will have every colour, every trim level, every engine level so a customer can make an informed choice,” he says. “We refer to it as a Jeep sweetshop – whatever you want we will have it.”

This determination to offer something that a customer might not get from another site, and the fact that Jeep’s colour palette includes some bold colours, means that the team might occasionally end up with a challenging model on the forecourt to get rid of. Rather than seeing this as a necessary evil, Sanjay says that the team welcomes it.

“It goes back to the guys we have got working with us. We know our marketplace and we know what customers want. More often than not it is the unusual colour combinations that people want that they can’t see somewhere else so we try and focus on that a little bit.”

Should there be a vehicle that is in a less desirable specification then pricing is key, says Sanjay.

“Price is important and because everything is so transparent with the internet you can’t get that wrong. If we buy a car in incorrectly there is no point me trying to passing that on to the consumer because they will see straight through it. We can only sell at the market price.”

At a time when stock is often hard to come by, Sanjay says that the team has to take a pragmatic approach to sourcing. He says that they have a good relationship with Jeep and this is fostered by not just pushing for the prime stock. Increased stock levels – a couple of hundred cars across the various brands – reflects the increased sales. Where used car sales were previously around 90-100 a month they are now up at 150.

Opportunities off the beaten track

Often, retailers that are named the best in the country for brands that specialise in off-road-focused vehicles like those in the Jeep range are based in more rural areas. Sanjay says that the more metropolitan location of Thames Slough is not a hinderance however.

“While we are in Slough in a built-up area we have green fields around us a well,” he says. “If you go to the depths of Berkshire, there are plenty of off-road opportunities.”

In fact, location was no issue at all through lockdown, as their customer net expanded far beyond the Home Counties.

“Through lockdown we were delivering to the north east, Scotland and even to Ireland. That was our biggest USP, we gave complimentary delivery,” says Sanjay.

He explains that the partner of one of the team ran a chauffeur service before Covid hit. As their business dried up they became the delivery point for Thames. Even now lockdown has lifted they are now a full-time member of staff and the delivery service continues, with around 30 of sales still delivered, even now.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Where? Slough, Berkshire

Established in: Site opened with Fiat and Abarth in 2001, took on the Alfa and Jeep franchises in 2016

Staff numbers: 50 across the site, 15 for Alfa and Jeep

New cars sold in 2020: Jeep: 228, Alfa: 160

Used cars sold in 2020: Jeep: 137, Alfa: 122

Kicking off in style

When the Thames Motor Group took on the Jeep franchise in 2016 it wanted to kick off the partnership in style.

Sanjay Sobte, Thames director, explains that fortuitous timing and some fantastic opportunism meant that they were able to go somewhat beyond the usual launch party held in the showroom.

“I’m a huge West Ham fan,” he explains. “[The launch] coincided with them opening up the London Stadium for our first game. [Italian football club] Juventus were invited over, who are sponsored by Jeep, so I spoke to the guys up at head office, the MD at the time and Damian Dally [head of commercial development] and asked what the chances of coinciding with our opening – get a few Juve players over – and they did it. They helicoptered a couple of players over, had a launch party and they got helicoptered back and we all got invited to the West Ham game as well.”

The players in question were not just bit-part squad players, either, with star striker and then recent big-money signing Gonzalo Higuain among those making the dash over from East London for the event.

“I’ve been with the FCA brands for over 30 years and that’s the first time anything like that has happened” says Sanjay.

“The timing was perfect, if you look at the showroom we have built for them it is pretty spectacular, we are close to head office.

“We have always enjoyed a positive relationship, we work with them and not against them.”