New Jaguar distributor

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 21

New Jaguar distributor

BEHIND the WHEEL with

Peter Greensleade

Geoff Shenton, the regional manager for overseas operations of Jaguar Cars Exports, Ltd, parried a barrage of questions in a polished, if circumspect, fashion after he had told the motoring press corps that his company had made Jaguar New Zealand, Ltd, responsible for the sales and servicing of the Coventrybuilt luxury cars as from February. But it was obvious why the previous distributor. New Zealand Motor Corporation, Ltd, was being disenfranchised. At the time when he was answering questions about his company’s relationship with N.Z.M.C. the position was by no means clear. It was not until an adjournment and journalists leaving the conference room were handed a brief statement by Bruce Carson, the general manager of N.Z.M.C., that the position became clearer. The current New Zea-

land distributor of Jaguars had accepted that, at a time yet to be agreed, it would cease to act in its capacity as importer of Jaguar cars for New Zealand.

Stating that retail distribution would not be affected by the change, Mr Carson concluded by saying that further comment would be inappropriate as negotiations between the parties were continuing. When the press conference resumed, Mr Shenton said that on the occasion of his latest New Zealand visit he had not had an opportunity to negotiate with N.Z.M.C. He was very guarded in his remarks about the situation that had developed and, in fact, his demeanour could have indicated the possibility of litigation between the parties.

But the announcement by Mr Shenton was really no surprise. Archibald and Shorter,

of Auckland, and Christ-church-based Archibalds Garage, Ltd, have accounted for about 85 per cent of Jaguar sales so far this year. N.Z.M.C., the Jaguar wholesaler, also has two retail outlets, and under those circumstances it appears that the

Coventry car-maker might have considered that N.Z.M.C.’s sales record was not as good as it could have been.

Another factor that could have- given rise to Jaguar’s concern about its New Zealand representation is that N.Z.M.C., which is the automotive division of Steel and Tube Holdings, is 40 per cent owned by the JapaneseHonda company, which has at least one Japanese employee stationed in N.Z.M.C.’s executive suite.

Moreover, while N.Z.M.C. was concerned mainly with the assembly and marketing of cars which afforded no competition for the high-per-formance, luxury Jaguar, the advent of the Honda Legend in the Japanese company’s New Zealand model line-up must inevitably be a source of concern for Jaguar. The Honda Legend is a

high-performance luxury car, fitted with a 2.5-litre, 24-valve V 6 engine, which, according to an N.Z.M.C. press release that has just begun to circulate, is “a successful attempt to crack the international luxury car market dominated since the beginning of motoring by famous name European brands.”

That must be fighting talk, at least as far as Jaguar is concerned. The Conventry carmaker has had to consider the wisdom of retaining the N.Z.M.C. franchise, with a 40 per cent Japanese-owned company engaged in marketing a Japanese luxury saloon that will retail for about $75,000 against a Jaguar that will probably sell for around $llO,OOO. To industry observers and, undoubtedly, Jaguar Cars Exports, Ltd, the association no longer made marketing sense.