Helen Westby is a big believer in people. That might sound like the trite, pre-prepared media-friendly talk you’d expect from a new boss in a big company, but looking BMW Ireland’s new managing director right in the eye, you can tell she means it.
Westby has come to BMW Ireland with much experience of training, being as she used to be the head of BMW UK’s training services – the part of the organisation that makes sure sales and service staff, technicians and others are all up to the Munich bar when it comes to their prowess. People are the key to any organisation, says Westby, and she believes that, when it comes to the seismic changes facing the motor industry, it’s the interaction between BMW’s people – at the importer and dealership levels – and its customers, that will ease the path.
BMW Ireland is about to embark on a radical change. In 2024, its Mini operations will switch from the current franchised dealer model to an agency sales model. This means that instead of a car dealer buying wholesale stock from an importer, and then selling it on to you, you will be ordering your new car directly from Mini itself, and the dealer you choose, from whom you will collect your car, is merely an intermediary, an agent, earning a fixed fee for the handover process.
In 2026, BMW will follow suit, marking the biggest change to its Irish sales model since the old private importer set-up, run by Frank Keane, was done away with in the early 2000s, and BMW itself took charge of its own Irish operations.
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But will the change actually be of any benefit for consumers? Many carmakers, touting the agency model, claim that the new process will be simpler and hassle-free, but there are those who worry that the move will take away the old relationship between retailer and consumer, and it may even ultimately lead to higher prices, as there may be less wiggle room for discounts.
“As you’d probably expect, I can’t speak at length about this because we are currently in discussion with our network at the moment,” Westby tells The Irish Times on the fringes of the Irish launch of the new electric i5 saloon. “However, everything around the agency model is shaped around the customer; around what the customer’s needs are, and what the customer wants. That’s the most important factor. So it’s about us asking ourselves ‘what’s in it for the customer’ and how can we give them the best services and product.”
Beyond that, Westby remains tight-lipped on exactly how the new agency model will play out, but does say that BMW Ireland is in “positive discussions” with the current dealer network about the switchover. When asked, she was unable to confirm whether all of BMW’s existing dealers are going to make the agency sales jump, however.
When it comes to value, you might think that BMW should be in the pound seats with electric cars, but the new i5 – with its €91,110 price tag – is looking rather expensive compared with the rival Mercedes-Benz EQE electric saloon. In theory, this should be reversed, as Mercedes has gone to the trouble of developing a bespoke electric car platform for the EQE, whereas BMW shares the same “CLAR” platform across its electric, hybrid and petrol-powered models, which should offer it a cost advantage.
“It’s not just about cost, though” says Westby. “It’s also about sustainability and giving the customer the option to choose a more sustainable model with the specification that they actually want. We’ve researched it quite carefully and the car you see here is the one our customers want, and I think that’s the differentiator between us and our key rivals.”
In part, according to BMW Ireland, the i5′s higher visual price point compared with the EQE is down to the fact that BMW has done away with an entry-level SE-spec model, focusing instead on the M-Sport trim that pretty much all buyers automatically select anyway. In this, the company claims that it has reduced the complexity of buying the car, enabling customers to order it in three relatively simple steps.
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Indeed, there are only a handful of individual options for the new i5, with the rest of the extra equipment bundled into four packs (a Technology Pack, a Comfort Pack, and “Plus” versions of both, priced from €2,461 to 4,616) with a fifth, known as the Ultimate Pack, which basically throws every available option at the car for an extra €15,000.
Will the i5 prove a big draw at that €90,000-plus price tag? After all, many current 5 Series customers might have bought their cars when you could get a 520d for little more than half that cost. Is asking them to make such a big leap, and a leap into electric motoring, too much too soon? Westby thinks not and points to the fact that sales of the new 7 Series luxury saloon are currently weighted 70 per cent in favour of the electric version. “I think that the range, for me, is the key thing,” says Westby.
“In being able to offer a range greater than 500km [the maximum range for the i5 eDrive40 model is 575km ] it just gives you that level of comfort, that you’re able to drive pretty much anywhere in Ireland. It’s the way forward. I also think that the charging infrastructure in Ireland is really starting to grow. That’s something I want to work with, with other suppliers and the Government, asking how do we make that better for the consumer, and making sure that we have the best possible infrastructure for electric cars across our country.”
