Simon Thomas, vice- president sales operations at Nissan Europe, admitted that sales margins in the UK aren’t where the manufacturer wants them to be.
“At the moment the average margin is less than 1.5%, but our ideal target would be around the 2% mark. However, very few brands can set that level.”
Thomas told AM that sales in the UK have been at a plateau for the last three years, partly due to prod-uct evolution.
“But this year we will see signs of growth. The UK is very competitive and every-one is trying to reduce costs,” he said.
With the Qashqai introduced earlier this year and the imminent launch of the X-Trail, the manufacturer said it has spoken to its headquarters in Japan about higher volume production.
“If our dealerships have extra volume while their cost base stays the same they will see an increase in turnover and profit,” said Thomas.
Thomas told AM that dealers should see the benefits of this plan towards the end of the year when production of the two newest models is ramped up.
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