Westfield Sales

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

From the pictures on the web site it looks like the french guy is giving Frank Turner a squelched hand shake or a chinese burn. Maybe its something to do with his  "Sumo" looks?  

[ludo]

When I was in Bordeaux in 2005 with 7 French Caterham owners they approached me to ask if I could have a word with the MD of Catrham about the French Caterham distributor. I've never seen hatred of one person as I did that day. They really hated him because of his attitude towards them once they had paid thier money. Apparantly he is also hated by anyone who buys a second hand car as he believes he's the only one who should import usd cars and creates huge barriers to anyone trying to buy in the UK (from France)

Interesting to see he's now Westfields distributor.

that's true.

on the other hand some guys are devoted to him (very few I must admit   )

[lippydave]

Seeing all this news of factories such as Aston and Rolls Royce laying off staff just wondered how Westfield were holding up. I did hear that some companies such as Zcars had sold lots of cars recently into Europe with the weak pound. I see there is a build site from a US buyer.

I hope the same is true for Westfield.

I wonder if the kit car industry is more or less vulnerable than the car sales overall. Track days still seem to be growing.

I'm a freelance automotive designer and currently working for Jaguar/Land Rover and fairly au fait with the industry having worked in  Europe, Scandanavia and the US for most of the oems for the last 25 years or so....

The advantage that the kit car companies have lies with the fact that they have (by comparison), very small overheads, tiny development and design teams, and consequently smaller "peripheral" sales and marketing "non-productive" type departments and functions to support. They also obviously have a much smaller cash flow and are thus less exposed to the fluctuations and vagaries of the financial markets.

IMHO The challenge  for all automotive manufacturers is to produce competitive, exciting products at the right (read cheaper) end of the market.

The really high end stuff will have a small core of buyers who are relatively unaffected by the credit crisis.

The rest of us normal folk need to feel we are getting a good deal in order for us to divvy up and re-energise the whole car buying industry.

My belief is that Westfield with it's small number of dedicated staff, and products that are perceived to be good value (within the context of the kitcar industry), should be able to ride this out in far better shape than the bloated OEM's with chronic overstaffing, (particularly in non-engineering disciplines), and massive financial commitments.

Of course, I would say that as an engineer....    

[Carl]

QUOTE

My belief is that Westfield with it's small number of dedicated staff, and products that are perceived to be good value (within the context of the kitcar industry), should be able to ride this out in far better shape than the bloated OEM's with chronic overstaffing, (particularly in non-engineering disciplines), and massive financial commitments.

I hope you're right. However being in the Auto Industry and seeing the massive decline in sales in the last 3 months for "normal" cars makes me worried for specialist "toy" cars.

I hope I'm wrong

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

having only just purchased a Westy, and after looking for "the one for me" for months and months I could clearly tell how static the second hand market is for Westys and how some of you guys seem to be struggling to sell ...

I think maybe some of the cheaper cars will sell ok, but higher priced second hand cars and new Westfields will struggle ...

Westfield have an opportunity to market there cars to people who would of perhaps splashed out on a tvr or porche as a cheaper alternative for their thrills (one of you guys was sorta saying this above)

But will they market there products and pick up those potential new customers

[speedy jon]

SVA going up to £540, .

you got to be kidding  

[davidgh]

Banks (and all other finance houses) currently are being very chary about lending people money......

...therefore, less is being bought.....

...therefore, many firms are feeling the pinch...

...therefore, many are letting people go; even long standing employees...

...therefore, both those with (out of fear) and without (out of necessity) jobs are curtailing their commitments  --  especially discretionary spending...

...and cars (especially kit-cars) are discretionary spending

Don't expect to see great results out of any car company over the next year or two. Believe me, I'm very well placed to know

Only bright spot: as far as I know WSC is not nearly as highly leveraged as some of its rivals

[tonyl42]

I have no wish to be unduly pessimistic, but now's the time that the chickens come home to roost.  The great strength of smaller outfits should be their ability to keep very close to their customers. With their relatively tiny customer-base, WF should excel in this area.  They don't.

If it were my company, the number of issues with WF raised on this board in the past would be of huge concern to me, particularly those relating to lack of customer responsiveness.  I fear that this not only deters potential new customers, but reinforces the view of people like myself, who will not be buying another WF, great product that it is.

I don't believe we should be trying to run the company for them, but I just hate to see such obvious failings, with their inevitable consequences.

TonyL

[RichP]

The way forward is probably to admit that the after-sales side is a struggle for them, and outsource it to a newly formed division of the WSCC. They focus on new kit and complete build sales, WSCC takes on the "full" role of aftersales support, which it largely does anyway.

That way, aftersales support would be second to none

[windy]

It's difficult to know what's happening at the moment.

Major suppliers to the automotive industry are starting to struggle for cash flow and that will have a knock on effect if they go bust there will not be the bits to build cars, even if they could sell them.

Westfield may have problems obtaining some of their new parts, especially if the supplier needs cash up front in order to deliver.

I think new fully built car demand will drop off, if its not already done so, but sale of kits & bits might be OK for a while.

[Mark Stanton]

QUOTE

WSCC takes on the "full" role of aftersales support, which it largely does anyway.

That way, aftersales support would be second to none

Very positive comments for the WSCC RichP and I'm sure all the club members that contribute appreciate them ...................... for the club everything is undertaken by volunteers without payment for benefit of fellow members for the pleasure and as a hobby ................. when running any business there is often a very different approach and there has to be  

[nikpro]

Personally I think Westfield need to move more 'upmarket' towards the Caterham end.

The Rich will always be Rich and will always have money to spend.

I would like them to narrow down their product range aswell.

Get rid of the bike engined cars and SDV and just sell three-five models;

(1) An out and out track focused car Circa 300 bhp stripped out and light weight.

(2) A 2ltr road car like the sport 2000

(3) the 1.6 litre Sigma engined car

Keep the XTR2 (Covers bike engine) & 4.

Distance themselves from the Locst/ MK/Tiger etc brigade as this is fierccely competative.

Just my opinion - will upset loads of people but we're all entitled to have one!  

[tonyl42]

The way forward is probably to admit that the after-sales side is a struggle for them, and outsource it to a newly formed division of the WSCC. They focus on new kit and complete build sales, WSCC takes on the "full" role of aftersales support, which it largely does anyway.

Interesting, but don't forget that 'aftersales' includes parts as well.  Technical backup is reasonably straightforward, but the parts operation involves sourcing, procurement, supplier liaison, warehousing, logistics, accounting, and quality control, not to mention a few other areas I've probably forgotten...  It can also be cash-hungry, unless you can achieve a high turnover rate - not easy to do with a specialist product.  

Having said that, parts are usually the most profitable area of the business if done properly.  The question really is whether WF parts prices are so high because of inefficiency,  or the need to support the new vehicle and kit margins.

BTW, total new car sales in the UK nearly halved last month, year on year.

Who'd be in the motor business?

TonyL

[RichP]

....but don't forget that 'aftersales' includes parts as well.  Technical backup is reasonably straightforward, but the parts operation involves sourcing, procurement, supplier liaison, warehousing, logistics, accounting, and quality control, not to mention a few other areas I've probably forgotten...  It can also be cash-hungry, unless you can achieve a high turnover rate - not easy to do with a specialist product.  

Having said that, parts are usually the most profitable area of the business if done properly.  The question really is whether WF parts prices are so high because of inefficiency or the need to support the new vehicle and kit margins.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely agree. However, I think there's a large element of "work smart" rather than throwing people at problems. Sourcing is a done deal - most of the aftersales parts will be supplied by the OE supplier (unless WF would outsource the whole OE and aftersales sourcing & procurement role). The only need for aftersales sourcing would be if a wider parts range than OE was offered, which might be interesting (bulk buy’s all over the place!!). Otherwise most bases could be covered by a maximum of 6 people, probably less. I do think that parts sales can be very profitable, if you can maintain a balance between a profitable part price and demand maintenance. The difference between kit cars and more mass produced vehicles would be that customers are more prepared, or perhaps even keener, to fit non-OE parts as replacements to originals so there’s a lot of competition. Hence the "interesting" idea of offering non-OE parts as well. There's a potential warranty can of worms there, but not insurmountable.

I think it might be interesting, especially considering that they're trying to juggle not only the WF aftersales, but GTM (which from personal experience is spectacularly hopeless - sorry to be blunt but it is) and Roadster Bil as well. There are synergies to be gained there, for sure, and a great potential for a bit step forward in maintaining the customer service that not only keeps the existing WF customers, but assists in encouraging new ones.

Lots of companies have done this – you’re just “nearshoring” the function rather than going as far as “offshore” which would better suit WF and most of it’s customers. WF only need a robust SLA and then let it run.

........ for the club everything is undertaken by volunteers without payment for benefit of fellow members for the pleasure and as a hobby ................. when running any business there is often a very different approach and there has to be.[/QUOTE]

Yep – understand Mark, but I guess a separate function could be established that was commercially-based?

[dombanks]

dont get rid of the SDV.

i think its a great way to do a westfield. granted the sierra one could be dropped or phased out as sierra's are getting uncommon and lets be frank the only bits i used were the gbox, diff, drive shafts, front hubs, column and engine. i did wonder if it wouldnt be better to just use a normal sei chassis with the front/ rear westfield hubs.

but the mazda sdv seems to use a lot more of the car so perhaps in these cash strapped times maybe a good way to own a quality product.