Victory at the first time of asking for Cupra Fife

Cupra Fife has a 100% winning record in the brand’s retailer of the year award, having been named the top performer only 14 months after setting up as a Cupra dealer.

The caveat to this is that Cupra’s relative newness as a brand means that this was the first time that anyone has been named as its top retailer. However, this means that Fife’s name will forever be at the top of the list of former winners and it has done it from the position of being a single site without the backing of a major group.

Mark McKenna owns and runs the site and points out that the Cupra element of the business might be relatively new but the team boasts plenty of stability and experience. This comes from its long-standing work with Seat, the brand that spawned Cupra as a dedicated performance and enthusiast brand.

“I think the key thing from my point of view, the priority one area, is that we have got a stable team. More than 75% of the staff have been with us for more than five years. We’re building a business based on trying to be the experts for Seat and Cupra in the local area,” he says.

This intention of expertise has seen Fife treat Cupra as a standalone proposition, giving it the dedicated resources that it needs.

“We’ve taken a holistic approach to the customer and have a Cupra specialist who is responsible for both service and sales, backed up by a specialist service team who are there in the background,” says Mark.

The rest of the sales team are capable of dealing with the brand should new customers come in while the specialist is away, but having a dedicated person helps

Flat structure

Having a Cupra specialist doesn’t mean that the team is segmented in its knowledge, though, as Mark explains that the team operates a flat structure with everything being dealt with by the sales team. This means no business managers or sales managers.

“The sales staff are empowered to own the customer and the transaction,” he says. “We have clear pricing and when the customer comes in they talk to one person from beginning to end in terms of the valuation of the trade-in and the handover of the car.”

This has been the case, across Seat and Cupra, for about three years, he explains. Not only does it improve the customer journey but it also reduces overheads by stripping out a layer of management. They have dabbled in finance managers and handover specialists in the past but Mark feels that the customer gets a better experience with the one face throughout.

Getting in a member of staff with the breadth of knowledge might be tricky, but Fife has managed to circumvent this by training up sales staff.

“Two of the four sales staff joined us aged 16 and 19 and they are now 23. We do VWFS as well FCA training but we have lots of control in the process making sure things are explained. The sales people need to be monitored every 12 months or sooner.

“We do lose an element of control of profitability but I think it is worth more in terms of the customer journey than the loss of profit opportunity.”

Racing heritage

The Cupra brand positioning has brought in a different type of buyer, says Mark, with customers trading in Jaguar Land Rovers, BMWs, Toyotas and Lexus more than they have seen previously.

The more enthusiastic nature of the models Cupra is offering means that this allows for a potential revival of the area’s links to motorsport – the Cupra Championship helped launch the careers of several local racing drivers.

“Historically Fife supplied Cupras to Knockhill racing circuit. We are speaking to them about using [the Cupra] Born, possibly for electric driving courses,” says Mark. “It’s the centre of motorsport in Scotland and is quite local to so we’ll look at cultivating some kind of relationship there, and also maybe something along the lines of joint customer initiatives.”

Retaining the crown

When as the only winners of the Retailer of the year award so far, Cupra Fife is very much the one to beat. When it comes to future plans, Mark aims to keep personal service at the fore.

“I think the important thing is we carry on, as far as possible, providing individual service because we’re small and flexible.”

This means no dealing with leasing brokers, no Carwow and no chasing deals. Mark is under no illusions that the competition will hot up, though.

“With the improving product, I think the whole network will move forward so it will be more difficult to hold on to our position. But from my point of view as long as we’re in the top 25% we’re probably still doing a very good job.”

Green takes top priority for site refurbishment

Cupra Fife owner Mark McKenna says that the forthcoming expansion of the Kirkaldy site is an opportunity to move towards a more environmentally friendly approach.

“There is a need to take emissions down and get to Net Zero as quickly as possible,” he says. “Obviously the focus is the business and trying to do it as sensibly and practically as we can. It is a relatively straightforward decision if we are going to be mucking around with the building – put in a bit more insulation, change the heating system and move to heat pumps and electric heating.”

The process has already started, he says, as the site has switched over to a greener energy supplier.

“Our electric is already net zero, as we use renewable but obviously, we still use gas and we need to reduce that,” he says.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

• Location: Kirkcaldy, Fife
• Established in: 2008
• Staff numbers: 21
• New cars sold in 2021: 410
• Used cars sold in 2021: 400
• Turnover: £13.2m