At home in the driving seat

May 13 2008 by jez Davison, Evening Gazette

AS a former UK board director for Renault, Robert Bennett was used to living life in the fast lane . Then he got behind the wheel of his own business and things really started revving up, as JEZ DAVISON discovers.

IF THE economy in 2003 had mirrored today’s, it’s highly unlikely that Robert Bennett would be sitting on a £37.5m premium car retail business.

“I was a bit fortunate that 2003 to 2006 was an economic boom time”, he says, “but it could have been so different. If I was at the planning stage now, I may have decided not to go ahead with the venture.”

Oxford-born Robert, 51, has been in the game long enough to know that timing is everything. But risk-taking, judicious decision-making and a continual quest for improvement are the key drivers of Stockton-based RMB Automotive’s success story - even if Robert’s work ethic hasn’t always made him popular with staff.

“At the end of every day, I go over events and think of better ways of delivering excellence in customer service, sometimes to the annoyance of staff. But I work with very demanding brands that apply the Japanese Kaizen philosophy to business, which constantly seeks better ways of doing things. The UK business culture tends to be goal-focused and some people tend to rest on their laurels for too long before moving on to the next target.”

Away from the office, though, he’s much more chilled out. “You can’t run a business like this and not be able to switch off,” he says. “It would drive you crazy.” The “sheer tranquility” of the Maldives and the less chilled-out pastime of supporting Leeds United offer two escape routes from the high-octane world of car retailing. But he doesn’t dwell on the subject for long; he is more comfortable talking business and, in particular, about plans to grow RMB into a £50m operation by 2010.

With fives sites across Stockton, Yarm, Darlington and Northallerton, he will look to make 2% returns on £45m turnover next year, primarily through organic growth. And he believes that by continuing to work with global brands, such as Lexus, Toyota and Mercedes, RMB is better placed than volume retailers to withstand the global credit crunch.

“Premium brands mostly offer a more compelling value proposition with lower overall running costs and better residual values than most volume brands. This always counts more for customers looking for a new car in difficult economic times,” he says.

“The development of hybrid vehicles powered by combined fuel technologies will also attract customers looking for environmentally-friendly vehicles. Although I had doubts about hybrids initially, I am now totally won over and see more and more manufacturers following the lead taken by Toyota and Lexus with this technology. Over the next few years I see Toyota developing the technology. It will reduce further the CO2 emissions and our reliance on fossil fuel to power vehicles.”

As fuel prices rocket to unprecedented levels, this could be welcome news for cash-strapped consumers - provided that the cost of implementing these technologies isn’t passed on to them.

Robert believes that manufacturers and retailers will remain price-sensitive in an ultra-competitive environment - but then the sales pitch comes naturally to a guy who first got his head under a bonnet as a boy.

After a false start at a firm of architects in Bradford, he got into top gear in 1976 when he took a job as a trainee car salesman at Galway Smith, a franchise owned by Music Hire Group in Leeds.

When Renault took over the operation in 1977, Robert progressed quickly up the ranks, taking on a variety of area sales management roles before being appointed a main board director of Renault UK in 1999.

After running the company’s 23 UK manufacturing sites, he left in 2002, joining Reg Vardy as regional general manager for a few months before revving up RMB in 2003 with £1m of funding from Nat West and “a few quid” from his own back pocket.

The company, which takes is name from Robert’s initials and those of his wife, Morag, turned over £27m in its first year from three sites and is now one of the top 100 companies in the North-east. Losses accrued last year can be attributed to the investment in Lexus and Toyota dealerships at Stockton and the refurbishment of the Yarm site which is the authorised Mercedes bodyshop for the Teesside area.

Even as the economy crawls along in the slow lane, further acquisitions in the region are not ruled out, as Robert believes the area offers sound investment opportunities - and not just in his industry. As an outsider, he says Teesside needs to “reinvent itself” for the rest of the UK.

“I was surprised at the extent of the manufacturing and service industry when I first came here,” admits the man who moved to the area in 2004. “Teesside has to do more to promote itself as an entity in its own right, not just as part of the North-east. We have a broad mix of skills, an excellent transport infrastructure and some damned good businesses in the area.”