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Japanese premium brand Infiniti has appointed two new regional sales managers and is recruiting a corporate sales manager as the firm builds towards a potential three-fold increase in volume with the launch of its new lower medium Q30 hatchback and QX30 crossover.
The Q30, arriving late this year, six months ahead of the QX30, will be built at parent firm Nissan's Sunderland plant, which UK director Carl Bayliss said is a "very advantageous position because it means the spotlight is on the UK".
Miles Cooke, previously of Fiat, Ogilvie and Arval among others, joined in May and will handle the southern area, while Mark Sheedy joined this month and will work in the north of the country. A corporate sales manager will also be appointed above them, with Bayliss describing the recruitment process as "very far down the road".
The departure of previous corporate sales manager Hannah Bishop to BMW at the beginning of the year allowed a rethink and revamp of the fleet operation, leading to the increased headcount, according to Bayliss.
"Now anyone looking for Infiniti has more access to the brand," he said. "We've had a real shift in the way the business operates in the last six months - from a come-and-find-us best-kept secret position, we're now more into engaging with new customers, end users and repeat customers."
Infiniti's UK boss admitted that the firm has had to work hard with residual value setters, and is still looking for improvements.
"When you have history you can benchmark off that, but when you're a new brand there isn't that legacy, so assumptions are made early and we're looking to address them," he explained. "There's a lot of work to do with RVs and we have a tremendous opportunity to set the record straight and an opportunity to update information."
The Q30 is a turning point for the brand, according to its UK boss. "It's very exciting, to go from 100 units to two or three times that," he said. "The challenge is maintaining one-to-one relationships with customers - that's the key focus."
Bayliss confirmed that the Q30, which will be revealed to the public at September's Frankfurt motor show, will be offered with a range of petrol and diesel engines. "We want to have variety and choice for customers," he said, while predicting a more receptive customer base among user choosers that have more freedom to select a vehicle.
"The type of fleet we do would be different to others - users choosers and small fleets," he said. "Guys that have had the same car in various guises over the last five or 10 years and have flexibility."
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