Changan says it is on schedule with its UK dealer network development plans, which are designed to deliver sustainable growth.
Grant Richards, deputy general manager for sales and network at Changan UK, said that 60 dealer points had been agreed, with 42 so far operational. His comments came around seven months after Changan UK MD Nic Thomas told Automotive Management that he was targeting around 60 dealerships by the end of 2026.
Richards told us: “We want to take a sustainable approach to building our dealer network. So, for us, it’s about finding the right quality of partner rather than just hitting the core objective of a set number of sites.”
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When asked what made the ideal dealer partner for Changan, Richards said: “I think a blend of things. We want to make sure that we have coverage in the right locations. That’s really important to us.
“We also want to make sure, obviously, that they’re well-funded to make investments for the long term. We want sites and partners that can grow with us.”
On how far the Changan UK dealer network might expand beyond 60 sites, Richards said: “We’ve said before that in the mid-term we want to get a few more than that.
“We’re not going to go into the hundreds – that’s not the aspiration. But we will go a little bit more beyond 60.”
Chance for retail boost from first Changan UK plug-in hybrid
Richards spoke to Automotive Management at the media launch of the Deepal S05 Ultra PHEV, Changan’s first UK model not to be a full EV, which he said gave the manufacturer an opportunity to increase its appeal to retail buyers.
He said: “The EV market today is around 26% of the UK car market, and around 70% of that is fleet. There is very much a retail opportunity, and it’s growing, but if you look at the total EV market, the majority of sales are going through fleet channels.
“From a plug-in hybrid perspective, that powertrain is massively growing, year-over-year. We see that as a really big volume opportunity for us. And also, when you look across the industry, it’s much more of a 50-50 split between retail and fleet, and therefore, yes, we see this as an opportunity to improve our retail mix and go through more sites through the network.”
Richards explained that the PHEV could appeal to a different customer base than the pure EV.
He said: “If you look at some of the SMMT data in terms of year-on-year growth, EV is continuing to grow, but also plug-in hybrid is. So, you can see that there is demand across the board for a range of powertrains.
“With EV, we’ve obviously been on sale for the last 12 months since we’ve launched and we’re starting to build that database. Plug-in hybrid definitely gives us a whole new opportunity – customers that aren’t quite ready yet for full EV. With 62 miles of range, we think that we give a really strong customer proposition to have as a stepping stone potentially to an EV next.
“So, we definitely think there will be seeing new customers, and we definitely think that the BEV and the PHEV are two separate customer bases, rather than necessarily the same customer.”
Changan aims to stand out from competitors with long-term commitment
With the number of Chinese market entrants ever-increasing, it’s becoming difficult for even seasoned industry experts to keep on top of them all, never mind for car buyers. When asked how Changan aims to differentiate itself against so much competition, Richards highlighted how the brand was taking a long-term approach.
He said: “We have deliberately come in and said that we want to be a very sustainable brand. We want to take time to build the right business for the UK.
“We’re coming in with a managed product portfolio that will cover the vast majority of the volume segments rather than necessarily coming with lots of products. And we also want to make sure that we have a really strong local team.
“We have 30 local people now, purely for sales and marketing, in Birmingham. We’ve got our training centre as well for sales and aftersales – that’s all been set up pre-launch. Every dealer, before they go live, has to go through our full induction training on aftersales and for sales. And we’ve also got the European call centre as well.
“So, for us, our differentiation is that we want to build the ecosystem first and then bring really strong products to the market.”
In addition to the above, Changan has its long-established R&D centre in Birmingham, and a dedicated parts centre at East Midlands Airport, from which it claims 24-hour delivery across the UK. This should help mitigate an issue that has previously affected other Chinese brands, with customers frustrated at long waits for repairs as components are shipped over from China.
Richards told us that a successful aftersales operation was an important part of Changan’s UK plans.
He said: “I joined on the same day as our aftersales director, Gregory Bednarz, so we very much built the business at the same time, sales and aftersales. We think that’s hugely important.
“We know there’s perception around what customers want from Chinese brands, and making sure that we can deliver a strong aftersales experience, we believe, will overcome some of those barriers.”
Recent weeks have seen speculation about the possible introduction of extra tariffs on Chinese cars by the UK Government. Richards said that Changan would not comment on speculation; however, he did reaffirm the company’s commitment to the UK.
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He said: “We’ve been in the UK for 15 years – the R&D centre is a perfect example of that. We’re very much committed to the UK for the long term. through R&D, but also through sales and marketing, where we’ve built a national sales company now with over 30 local hires.”