Infiniti Centre Leeds
The UK's youngest automotive dealer group, Mana Premiere Automobiles (MPA), a privately owned company established in 2009, has opened an Infiniti Centre in Leeds with a focus on high levels of hospitality and service.
"This is the second Infiniti Centre to open in the UK within a month and is a milestone in the brand's development," said Bernard Loire, Vice President Infiniti Europe and Middle East. "The UK is a key market for the growth of Infiniti and our ambition to take one in 10 luxury car sales across Europe by 2016. To achieve that we will need around 40 Infiniti Centres in the UK and thanks to partners like MPA we are on course to achieve that."
"Like Infiniti, the Al Mana group puts customer service before everything," said MPA Operations Director Lisa Ford. "Our philosophy is a simple one: customers are for life. At our Infiniti Centres we look after them not solely with welcoming surroundings, but with a deep understanding of our products and their needs."
A former Mercedes Benz retail director and general manager with HR Owen in London, Lisa added: "By modeling our customer service on standards in the hospitality industry, not on those in the automotive sector, we offer a genuinely different luxury car experience. Feedback from customers so far has been incredibly positive."
"As a female, I know how daunting it can be to go into a male-dominated luxury car showroom, but the feeling here will be utterly different, just as it is at MPA's other Infiniti Centres in Stockport, Glasgow and Birmingham. We are having special junior versions of Infiniti furniture made so not even the children feel left out."
Two ideas MPA is introducing includes extended test drives and a ban on service advisors. Lisa Ford has said that cars will be made available for as long as someone wanted and owners will deal only with their personal technician, the technician who actually works on their car, a system which has been designed to promote trust and avoid misunderstanding.
"And I appreciate how depressing it is when the customer knows more about the car than the sales staff. So we have made sure that can never be the case in one of our Infiniti Centres thanks to best-in-industry sales training. The staff even have regular quizzes to test their product knowledge."
Infiniti Centre Leeds is located on Domestic Road, close to Leeds FC's Elland Road and a mile from Junction 2 of the M621.
"Our goal is to be the number one Infiniti Centre in Europe," said Centre Manager George Fitzpatrick, joining Infiniti from Mercedes Benz. "With the team, the location, the building and the Infiniti range I can’t see any reason why we can’t achieve that.
"The FX will do well here, and we have been getting a very positive reaction from fleet buyers to the M35h hybrid. Its CO2 emissions make it a very attractive tax proposition."
The full range of Infiniti vehicles will be available including the G, EX, FX and M ranges. The Centre will also display the Championship-winning Red Bull racing F1 car and an exhibition of digital art from Infiniti's worldwide design competition.
"MPA is on its way to being a successful luxury car retailer in the UK and there could be no better partner to have than Infiniti," added Operations Director Lisa Ford. "It is a fiercely competitive market right now but we are at the beginning of a long and successful relationship with Infiniti. MPA is passionate about the brand and proud that we can meet the incredibly high standards Infiniti sets. We intend to take a pivotal role in establishing Infiniti in the UK."
