Interview: Julie David

INTERVIEW ‘I really hope that in my lifetime I will see a change in the way people feel about buying a car’

Peugeot UK’s MD tells James Batchelor of her vision for the brand and how it should be sold via the network.

Julie David wants to make the experience of buying a car more enjoyable.

She is Peugeot’s latest UK managing director and brings some strong views and even stronger visions to the French brand.

‘I really hope that in my lifetime I will see a change in the way people feel about buying a car,’ she says. ‘I think it’s so sad that we still have a situation where people fear going into a showroom – they fear the interaction with salespeople. My biggest thing would be if we could achieve a situation where customers enjoy the experience and not feel pressurised.’

David is speaking to me halfway up London’s Shard in one of the tower’s ultra-cool, super-chic restaurants, and she chats in more detail about getting the customer’s experience in line with where the brand is going.

After the last lockdown, she and her team carried out a ‘huge’ research piece to better understand the end-to-end customer-buying process for new and used cars.

‘We did it through the eyes of design experience experts to understand how you can make a difference with lots of very small things, and we also looked at it through the eyes of the customer,’ she says.

‘We recruited lots of customers at different points of their journey, and really importantly, we looked at the buying process through the eyes of the retailers.

‘We wanted to know what frustrated the retailers, what were the things that would make a difference to them, and what would help them deliver a great customer experience.

‘We want to bring about this brand promise of allure for Peugeot and how we make it a desirable brand. That’s beyond the product – this is about the experience I have when I own the product. I don’t believe much of the industry has cracked this and we’ve got a great opportunity to do that.’

The process of making the whole buying and owning experience more desirable has already begun, says David.

‘We launched it with the new 308 and we said [to our retailers] we’re going to train you about more than just selling the product – How are we going to sell the car’s features? How are we going to turn that into a story? How are we going to make sure that every single conversation that happens has been designed in a way that makes sure the customer really and truly understands the products’ attributes, and also what it means to own a Peugeot?’

David has been able to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the Peugeot brand – and the

Honestly, there was passion for the brand, but one of the things I noticed was a lack of confidence in selling electric vehicles.

Julie David

Peugeot UK managing director

Julie David played mystery shopper before her appointment was announced

experience, particularly from a customer’s perspective, from premium brands. She was appointed in January 2021 after a 25-year career in automotive, with spells at Ford, Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda, and took over from David Peel, who now heads up dealer group Pentagon. Most recently, she was experiential marketing director at Jaguar Land Rover – a role that spanned more than two years during her six-year-plus stint at the British brand. Peugeot UK only announced the news of David’s appointment on the day she began the role. She says this allowed her to evaluate how the French brand – and its major competitors – treated customers in the buying process before she was a recognisable face within the Peugeot dealer network.

‘To be fair, when I was mystery shopping it was during the summer of 2020, post the first lockdown, so there was a lot of social distancing and lots of dreadful tape everywhere, which was obviously very different from what you would expect from a normal retail experience,’ she explains.

‘But what I was looking for was the presentation at the [dealership] sites and how that made me feel and how the people engaged with me – that’s really what matters, isn’t it?’ David says.

‘Honestly, there was passion for the brand, but one of the things I noticed was a lack of confidence in selling electric vehicles, the confidence in seeing electric as yet another alternative.

‘I knew this was something we had to address because we are so ahead of the game when it comes to powertrain offerings.

‘I’m delighted to say this is something that I think we have fixed.’ Peugeot e-2008 Peugeot 308

Peugeot’s hybridengined 9X88

WORDPLAY

We’ve no dealers in our network – but we DO have retailers

JULIE David thinks the word ‘dealer’ plays an unfortunate role in customers’ perceptions of buying their next car.

‘I never use the word “dealer” because I think it’s really important to call them “retailers”. Because the minute you say “dealer”, you are almost reinforcing the fact that there’s a deal to be done. “Did I get the right deal? Actually, did I get the experience I wanted to get the car that suited my lifestyle? Was it affordable?” They’re far more important to people.’

David also believes motorsport has a positive impact on brand awareness and perception for the customer, even though the sport is under huge public scrutiny because of climate change concerns.

‘We’ve got heritage at Le Mans and for us it’s about that early adoption of technology.

‘The Peugeot 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered was designed and engineered by Peugeot Sport Engineered, so there is an aspect still to motorsport that’s about that early technology development that you then put into consumer vehicles. There is a good point about the green agenda, but that’s something that we’ve been very upfront about, and because it’s hybrid technology it is more relevant.’

The brand is returning to endurance racing this year with its hybrid-engined 9X88 hypercar, and will compete in next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in an all-star field.