Sometimes you ask yourself: did I do the right thing? Setting up Ligier Store Doesburg is a good example of that.

Four years ago, on my 50th birthday, I gave myself a special present and a considerable challenge: within five years I wanted to become the largest Ligier dealer in Europe. That didn’t work out. Not by a long shot.

In the second and third year we did become number two in the Netherlands. For a new dealer, without experience with microcars and without an existing customer base, that’s certainly not bad at all. But we didn’t reach the numbers I had in mind, and it also turned out to be difficult to make the business profitable.

That’s why we changed course at the time. From the same private limited company and the same building, we started the Experience Store Doesburg, with which we focused on ‘ordinary’ used cars, with a lot of Lynk & Co’s in particular. That turned out to work considerably better.

After that, we also set up our own workshop. That ultimately turned out not to be the right choice. Sometimes you have to be honest and conclude that something isn’t working the way you’d hoped.

That’s why we’re now going back to basics. We’re stopping with the microcars and focusing entirely on the sale of nearly new used cars. Sometimes you have to dare to choose. Even if that means saying goodbye to something you’ve spent four years building with a lot of energy.

Ligier

It certainly wasn’t down to the brand. And least of all to Ligier’s import organization. Bart Seelen, Felix Willems and all the staff of Ligier Group BeNeLux helped us every day with the challenges we came up against.

Without wanting to do other importers a disservice, in my career I’ve never come across such a pleasant importer. It’s an importer that genuinely acts as a partner. Every idea I had was open for discussion with Bart. Always with enthusiasm, energy and the shared ambition to help our customers better and sell more Ligiers.

Never did I have the feeling that, as a dealer, you were a neglected child. On the contrary. Come up with a nice marketing campaign, but need extra budget to sell new Ligiers? Then Bart not only helped think it through, but invested along with us too. Always with the same goal: to sell more microcars together.

Microcars as a segment: Still, I personally find microcars a difficult market segment.

You have the young target group who, as soon as they turn eighteen and get their driving license, trade in the microcar straight away. In addition, you have the older target group who can or may no longer drive a regular car. With them, it unfortunately happens regularly that you buy the microcar back again after just a few months, because someone passes away or, due to physical circumstances, can no longer drive after all.

In other words: it’s difficult to build up a long-lasting customer relationship that you can keep building on for years.

Of course there’s also a large group of people who, for whatever reason, can’t obtain a driving license, but are allowed to drive a microcar. Those are often loyal customers who come back regularly for maintenance and service. It’s just that this fits less well with our current concept, because we no longer have our own workshop.

Exploded

That doesn’t alter the fact that the market has grown enormously over the past few years. I couldn’t have predicted that four years ago. Especially in cities like Amsterdam, you see that microcars are increasingly viewed as a serious alternative for urban mobility. The introduction of Stellantis’s microcars, with entry-level prices under €10,000, has given the whole market an enormous boost.

A Ligier quickly costs about 50% more. In return you also get demonstrably more quality, comfort and finish. But precisely because of the lower price segment, entry has become much easier for many consumers. Stellantis has seized that opportunity excellently and, in doing so, has not only gained market share, but also made the total microcar market grow considerably in the big cities. And the Randstad is somewhat different from Doesburg in the Achterhoek, even though it’s a city. One of the smallest in the Netherlands, incidentally.

How to proceed now?

Over the coming six months we’re going to get stuck in with the Experience Store Doesburg. All the focus is going on the sale of nearly new used cars. With a turnover rate of 10.1, the cars move through nicely. The margins are slightly above average and, with products such as AutoTrust Arne Swart, we can offer customers a good and reliable proposition.

The big question, though, is: will it also become structurally profitable when you don’t do everything yourself, but work with employees who bring along a completely different cost pattern? That’s the question I’m going to get an answer to over the coming months. One thing, at least, is clear: the excuse that it was down to the microcars is one I won’t be able to use anymore.

At the same time, I also have to be honest with myself. CARMEN Automotive BDC and #DCDW – Digital Car Dealer Workshop – de online automotive beter maken! are growing rapidly, especially internationally. Those are companies that deserve much more attention from me than they’ve been given over the past two years. That balance has to be restored.

In addition, we’re becoming a partner in a large project in which we’re going to sell used cars to end users. The scale of that is about ten times as large as what we currently do in Doesburg. Perhaps that’s ultimately also the place where all the energy needs to go. But fortunately I don’t have to make that decision today just yet.

What happens to Ligier Store Doesburg?

We’re looking for an enthusiastic entrepreneur in the Zutphen, Arnhem and Doetinchem region who wants to add Ligier to his or her existing car business.

For a universal car business with its own workshop, this concept actually fits perfectly. There’s a fleet of vehicles on the road, a built-up customer and prospect database, the necessary tools are in place, and over the past four years we’ve built up a lot of name recognition in the region around Ligier and microcars.

Does that sound interesting to you? Let me know. Bart and I would be happy to sit down with you to discuss the possibilities.

Vulnerable

I regularly receive well-meant advice that with these kinds of stories I make myself too vulnerable. That I should be careful towards the market, importers or suppliers.

But that was never my intention from the start.

On the contrary, I want to show my journey. Not only the successes, but also the moments when things go wrong, the choices that don’t work out well and the lessons you learn along the way.

My blogs have always been written from my own experience and vision of the market. Sometimes I’m right, but to be honest I’m probably wrong more often than right. And that’s not a problem at all.

It’s precisely by also sharing the less attractive sides that we can learn from each other. If everyone only tells the success stories, entrepreneurship seems much simpler than it is in reality.

That is, and remains, my driving force.