This story first appeared in the April issue of AutoTalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE
Oliver Mann
Hyundai Australia says more of its 160 franchised dealerships will join its Blue Drive low and zero emission vehicle sales and servicing strategy.
Only 18 dealers in metropolitan Australia are able to sell and service what is the widest range of electric vehicle models of any manufacturer available in Australia, equal with Renault.
Hosting AutoTalk at the launch of the Kona Electric in Adelaide put the most affordable electric SUV in front of lord mayor Sandy Vershoor and energy and mining minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan, Hyundai says it isn’t afraid to call on governments to take a lead in fleet transition.
Hyundai Australia’s director of customer experience, Oliver Mann, tells AutoTalk more Blue Drive dealers will put their hands up in 2019.
“The broad plan is to expand this progressively across 2019 and beyond, as supply of Blue Drive vehicles increases,” he says.
“Ultimately, we foresee every Hyundai dealer being Blue Drive enabled, the next phase will occur from June 1, at which point we expect 12 more Blue Drive dealers to become operational,” Mann reveals.
Hyundai Australia says it has a lot planned for its dealers and electric vehicle models in the coming months and proceeding year.
“We’ve invited expressions of interest in becoming a Blue Drive dealer from the Hyundai dealer network, and built our roll-out plan primarily around strategic location and market opportunity,” Mann explains.
Hyundai says it is “progressively reviewing the roll-out plan for Blue Drive dealers” beyond 2019, citing the “high global demand” has “limited supply of Blue Drive products” like Kona Electric and Ioniq.
“Demand for Blue Drive vehicles has been healthy,” Mann says.
Scott Nargar.
Confirmed Blue Drive dealers include four in Sydney (booths in Gosford, Col Crawford in Brookvale, Ryde Hyundai, and Paul Wakeling in Cambelltown) and Wagga Wagga; three in Melbourne (Penfolds in Doncaster, South Morang, Lakeside in Caroline Springs), plus Baker Hyundai in Wodonga; Maughan Theim in Adelaide; three in south-east Queensland (Brisbane: Zupps in Aspley, Keema in Moutn Gravatt; plus Gold Coast); three in Perth (Wild West in Wanagara, Osbourn Park, and John Hughes, Victoria Park); plus Lennock in the ACT and Hobart Motors in Tasmania.
Hyundai says while it does not have special identification for Blue Drive such as Toyota’s “Synergy Drive” dealer façade branding, it is rolling out a stylish new Global Design Space Identity (GDSI) programme across Hyundai dealerships, with around 100 completed so far.
A new marketing campaign for Kona is also on its way, which will include the Electric model, and launches on April 7 across several mediums, including television.
Hyundai further mobility and Government relations and corporate communications manager Scott Nargar says dealers are in the midst of upgrading their service departments
in preparation for the Blue Drive
programme.
“We’ve got around 40 dealers who’ve already put their hands up to be Blue Drive deals in the near future which tells us there is a lot of buzz in the market if dealers are asking for it,” he says.
“Dealers need to meet a number of criteria in order to become a Blue Drive dealer, which includes technician training – they need to be a master technician – as well as high levels of customer service, but we’re not rushing out to make everybody one straight away,” Nargar explains.
“Of course we’re working with those who want to, but we have to not rush out and train everybody, they need to
understand what’s required to successfully sell and service them.
“But also we need to get the best customer engagement because we’ve gathered feedback from past EV owners whose experience wasn’t the best; we want those passionate, champion dealers who really believe in electric vehicles and will get the most out of the training,” he says.
Nargar has spoken directly with multiple state and federal governments in recent years – including in Adelaide for the Kona Electric launch.
He says it’s an exciting time for change.
“Both the Adelaide mayor Vershoor and minister van Holst Pellekaan are very keen to continue supporting us, as have previous governments, which is why South Australia has been such a leader for so long – and surprisingly the new government still has focus on the projects we’re working on, and the ACT has done a great job saying it’ll replace 100% of their fleet by 2021 with electric vehicles,” Nargar says.
“We’re close to getting hydrogen production going here [in SA], and credit has to go to the NRMA for putting $10 million of their own into free DC charging in NSW, which incentivises eco-tourism and money to be spent in regional areas.”
Nargar also says he doesn’t want big fleet procurement teams to show up to the EV party with delusions of grandeur.
“Those bigger fleets, we’re asking to consider transitioning their first 3%,5% or 10% by a certain time – but don’t make big outlandish statements and promises if you don’t have the capacity to do that,” he advises.
“The NSW government announced a couple of weeks back they’d go for 10% fleet transition by 2021 in EV and hybrid, and a Channel Nine reporter asked the question, ‘How many hybrids have you got in the fleet now, and can you meet the target?’.”
“They responded saying they can already meet their 10% with just the fleet vehicles in the education department.
So, why are we here if you can already meet those targets? Take hybrid out and make it an EV target,” Nargar encourages.
“If 10% isn’t sexy, make it 2%, something achievable, something you can say is a genuine target you can strive for,” he says.
Hyundai says it’s also talking to several energy retailers who want to be part of the change.
“They’re very interested; I’m asking what their internal fleet is doing, if they want to be a leader selling green energy through an EV charging station, asking what they’re doing with their own vehicles,” Nargar says.
“A lot say they’re already ‘working on it’.
“The tuning and pricing we’ve managed with Hyundai executives here and overseas is a job well done.We’re looking forward to the next cars our tuning guys are starting on, we’ve got some more eco cars coming in the future – can’t say what they are – but there are more electric cars coming.”
Nargar says it’s only very early days for Hyundai’s all-electric offerings, but they secured as many units as they could get.
As Australia powers toward the federal election in May, it seems electric vehicle strategy is coming to the fore as the Greens respond with ambitious targets to stop selling internal combustion by 2030 and increase the tax on expensive oil burners, while the Coalition’s electric vehicle “plan about a plan” – as described by Electric Vehicle Council’s Behyad Jafari – has been delayed until mid-2020.
Nargar says he’s just waiting on the Labor party, which he is expecting something from soon.
It’s been said 2019 is the year of the electric vehicle, and in an election year, we’ll have to wait and see which government intends to make that a reality.
