Nissan Australia will use its new 'native' finance company to help cement the company back in the top-five selling brands Down Under. Least that's the plan of Nissan Australia boss Dan Thompson.
Talking at this week's Los Angeles Motor Show, where the brand launched its last 370Z sportscar (see separate story) and the new Cube five-door hatch (more soon), Thompson said the company's recently relaunched Nissan Finance division delivered a "huge advantage" in a climate where money is perceived as tight for both consumers and dealers.
Though the company had been planning to launch its white goods style 'no payments for X months' retail campaign for some months, the recent global credit squeeze and the exit of GE Finance and GMAC from dealer floor plan programs (more here) saw the impetus switch to include wholesale programs to underpin Nissan's dealer customers.
According to Thompson, the Nissan dealer network had "quite a high exposure to GE, etc -- 20 to 30 per cent; like most people [manufacturers]."
He said Nissan Finance would use its funds to support its dealers' floor plan needs; the payoff being a unique selling proposition that brands like Honda, Mitsubishi and Mazda -- rivals for Nissan's top five position -- were unable to offer.
"We know that the banks [and other financiers] are going to choose -- they're going to cherry pick. Even us, with limited capital, we've got to prioritise -- which means we've got to support Nissan-only, just so we can give a bit more scope to the network we can cover," Thompson explained.
But, the Nissan boss warned, dealer finance won't cement sales if there's a bottleneck in retail finance
"Consumers are starting to get the impressions that there's no cash available -- no financing available. So to be able to come out with the message gives them the assurance that Nissan finance is there [is very important]... It's only a few weeks into the program, but thus far so good."
Indeed, according to Thompson, initial response to the relaunch of Nissan Finance has been promising, and has contributed to Nissan's stronger ranking in the new vehicle sales hierarchy in the last six-eight weeks.
Thompson can't quantify the extra sales the retail program is delivering... Yet.
"[It's] Impossible to say, [which sales are attributable] specifically to 'no repayments'.
"If we went back a few months when we were throwing round which was the right coming out party for Nissan Finance, it was hard for us to quantify what it [the no payments strategy] would mean because no auto company has come out to this scale -- to say no repayments across the entire range... We didn't have any barometer, any idea of what it would provide for lift."
Thompson insists, though, that the business the campaign is generating is solid.
"For us the other side of the equation is being very sure we have the risk management in place. We're still small -- we're not even out there with all of our dealers yet -- so every deal we're going through offline... Ensuring we're not putting ourselves at risk and that we're not doing the consumer a disinterest."
He says the potential erosion of brand equity was a key discussion point, before the program was green-lighted -- global financial meltdown or otherwise.
"It's not [about] chasing the bad business. It's part of our current marketing communication, but it's not the theme. It was a key consideration to us that we didn't come across as a screaming Harvey Norman.
"We're not chasing [finance] business -- we're here to provide confidence," Thompson said.
To comment on this article click here