MBNI Truck & Van is the only official Mercedes-Benz Truck and Van dealer in Northern Ireland. With locations in Mallusk and Dungannon, the business also has dealerships in Surrey and Sussex. Group CEO, Pauline McKeating is the major shareholder in the business, having been involved in the Group for well over 20 years. Philip Cunliffe spoke to her about the unique nature of car and truck dealerships and her plans for the future.
Can you briefly trace the history of the business from when it was established to the present day?
Originally started by the Agnew Group under the name Agnew Commercials, the business was purchased by Neil McKibbin, along with his business partners in 2002, following the acquisition of Rentamerc the previous year, an established rental business specialising in short and long-term flexible hire on Mercedes Benz products. The purchase of the Mercedes Benz dealership in Mallusk in 2002 was a natural fit and by 2004, Neil was the outright owner. I had been the assistant accountant with Agnew Commercials from 2000, progressing to the accountant position at this stage.
In 2007, the business acquired Trevor Haydocks, the Mercedes Benz authorised repairer in the Dungannon region and we remained on this site until the end of October this year. Simultaneously we were investigating potential acquisitions in the GB area after a period of continued growth for the business and in 2009, acquired a Mercedes Benz commercial vehicle dealership with depots in Worthing, Eastbourne, Crawley and Aldershot.
I was now Financial Director of the Group and having spent 20 years of my career in the business I decided to buy into it as Neil had been pursuing other commercial interests. By 2023, I was the majority shareholder of the Group.
More recently, we had outgrown our Dungannon depot and having purchased a new site nearby, we rebuilt a state of the art aftersales facility which was launched in October 2024.
What is the principal focus of the business, what’s the size of the workforce and where geographically do your customers come from?
The business is a Mercedes Benz Van and Daimler Truck franchise in Northern Ireland for both sales and aftersales. The business in England is a Mercedes Benz Van Sales franchise along with Van & Truck aftersales franchises. Our market tends to focus primarily on the NI region, branching into ROI to a limited scale with our operations in England primarily concentrated in the Surrey and Sussex areas. At a Group level, we employ circa 300 staff, 130 of which are based in NI.
Do you have any challenges in terms of importing and exporting vehicles?
Brexit has certainly been a challenge and a significant administration burden – in an ever-changing landscape. As a Mercedes Benz Dealer, vehicles and parts come primarily from mainland Europe to the UK in free circulation. However, transfer to UK/NI does come with its difficulties as we are uniquely required to make a declaration for every vehicle and part that is wholesaled to the business from the franchisor. Obviously, this is a challenge that none of our UK counterparts experience.
Are there any other challenges that affect the business - recruitment or finance for example?
Skills shortage is a massive problem for the business and the industry at a wider level. The issue of fewer people joining as school leavers is compounded by the significant level of attrition of the older generation as they retire. The inflationary pressure that this puts on the business has been quite extreme over the last few years. It’s a case of basic economics - less supply of skilled staff causing a significant uplift in labour costs per hour which has necessitated us taking the commercial decision over the last few years to increase our charge-out rates. However, this doesn’t cover the overall increase in employment costs. The cost of living, as well as the increase in the national minimum wage and recent announcement on employer National Insurance Contributions hasn’t really helped either. Although the majority of our staff are paid above the NMW, the uplift by the government does impact people’s perceptions of what their salary should be.
Interest charges are another major factor within the business, particularly due to the high point value of each individual product and the stock levels that we need to maintain in order to facilitate customer orders. Unfortunately, despite the stabilisation of inflation rates to more normalised levels we have seen very little shift in the Bank of England base rate.
Highlighting the unique characteristics of our business to the local competitors, and promoting the attributes of our quality product range, is embedded into our own company ethos.
How important is maintaining brand awareness to your sales and marketing activities?
Maintaining brand awareness is paramount when it comes to the sales and marketing of any business and Mercedes Benz is no different. Upholding the reputation of the revered brand perception and values that Mercedes Benz has earned is a key focus of the business. Highlighting the unique characteristics of our business to the local competitors, and promoting the attributes of our quality product range, is embedded into our own company ethos. In addition, we want to ensure we gain a reputation for customer excellence and responsiveness across all aspects of the business.
People buy from people in our industry, so we spend significant time and energy promoting the staff and culture of our business. Ultimately, a positive brand reputation leads to higher customer loyalty, repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. We are very fortunate to have many of those.
What investments have you put in place recently and what will these bring to the business?
Our latest investment has been the circa £6m investment in our new site in Dungannon. We relocated from our current premises in The Bush to a 3.5-acre site located just off the M1 Motorway adjacent to the current M1 service area in Dungannon. It is a 15,000 sq ft purpose-built building, designed to maximise every inch of the place, housing three 18m drive-through truck bays, holding six trucks at any one time without a trailer, as well as nine multi-use van/car bays.
The new site is twice the size of the old one, with a substantial warehouse for parts holding. Customers can now experience a superior journey with ample parking for HGV vehicles, and a much more modern streamlined customer waiting area. We are also, for the first time, introducing Mercedes Benz passenger car aftersales to our portfolio.
Finally, what’s the vision for the future for the business – where will your future growth come from?
We have come a long way over the last few years and certainly over the lifespan of my career within the business. Our decision to invest heavily in the business and brand means that as a Mercedes Benz Van & Truck Dealer, we have kept our facilities to a standard in concert with Mercedes Benz corporate guidelines – with a few of our sites earmarked for a facelift over the coming years.
The change of direction with electric vehicles remains a key focus. Despite some improvements in infrastructure, unfortunately, it is still not equipped sufficiently to make the strides into electric vehicles volume. Customer confidence is a big issue – range anxiety is well documented, and it will take time particularly in the commercial vehicle world for confidence to grow enough that the vehicle will be commercially viable.
The new avenues for passenger cars are an exciting opportunity for the business and we are excited to see the longer-term benefits for the business, once final approval is completed. In the meantime, we will keep doing what we do best – focusing on the customer experience, nurturing our staff and maximising opportunities that come our way. No doubt we will have our challenges – the impact to the change in Government and outworkings of the recent Autumn Budget will have a massive impact on the Group, however we are in a reasonable position, with an excellent management team, high levels of retention, and ready to adapt to changing environments.
Thanks to Philip Cunliffe for the feature in Insider Media.