RAY MASSEY: Peugeot UK managing director Julie David on mission to transform customers’ showroom and online experience
- Peugeot takes on rivals such as Germany’s Volkswagen and Korean Hyundai
Julie David is on a mission – and part of it undercover. The Peugeot UK president aims to transform customers’ showroom and online experience when choosing, buying or leasing their car.
Upwardly mobile and on its way to premium class, Peugeot is taking on rivals such as Germany’s Volkswagen and Korean Hyundai. But the range of stylish models being offered and gaining popularity is better than how the public perceives the brand image and brand experience. And that has to change, she says.
When Julie took over 18 months ago, she undertook secret “mystery shopper” trips to showrooms with her sons. She commented: ‘One little thing – someone who doesn’t talk to you or ignore you, and that’s it. You’ll never go there again.’
Prelude: Peugeot’s Julie David and the newly launched chic 408
Her best experience was from the youngest and least experienced dealer, she said.
So impressed that she later went back to reveal her identity and congratulate him.
Her worst was in the showroom of a global car company.
‘I was totally ignored. I still get a bad feeling when I see their cars,” she said.
That practical feedback is driving a major overhaul of the showroom, the way cars are sold and how customers are treated, with more standardized prices and less negotiation.
She has a friend at Peugeot’s French headquarters – the global CEO is Coventry-born Linda Jackson. She too went on secret mystery shopper missions and encountered sexism in the showroom when she was ignored in favor of her late husband.
Peugeot’s new look is embodied in the recently unveiled 408, a feline fastback due next year with hybrid and petrol engines. It features refined styling, a distinctive grille and a new lion’s head emblem.
The new range of Peugeot cars are ‘real eye-catchers’, she believes – and I agree – and they indeed continue to take home a range of awards for their combination of stylishly chic yet daring looks, both inside and out. , driving skills and acumen although not cheap prices.
The current motto at Peugeot is to create seductive cars with ‘allure’ and daring elegance.
Likewise, customers’ showroom experience has to do with the “tone” of the conversation, she says.
This will become increasingly important as the move to electric cars – and the end of sales of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 onwards – accelerates, with many vehicles already ‘electrified’ with hybrid powertrains.
The new range of Peugeot cars are ‘real eye-catchers’
A combination of stylish chic but daring looks, both inside and out, driving skills and competitive but not cheap prices
The current motto in Peugeot is to create seductive cars with ‘allure’ and daring elegance
Upwardly mobile and moving towards premium class, Peugeot is pitting itself against rivals such as Germany’s Volkswagen and Korean Hyundai
Peugeot’s crop of stylish models on offer and coming over time is better than how the public perceives the brand’s image and experience
She said, ‘2030 is not far away. We believe that we have a duty of care to have that conversation with customers. Even though not all vehicles we sell are fully electrified.”
To get an idea of where she wants her business to be in the future, I urged her: If Peugeot were a supermarket or retail store, what would it be?
Aldi, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Harvey Nichols or Fortnum & Mason?
She said she is most impressed with John Lewis – both for the customer experience and for the consistency: “We all know John Lewis. It’s not always the most exciting. But it is consistent. It would be my ‘go to’.
‘They show great respect for the customer and nothing is left to chance.’
So get ready for chic new showrooms from ‘Salon Peugeot’ – and cars that have never been deliberately undersold.