The work, reach and market share of Allied Mobility in the UK is well-known, and that success has been incredible. What some of you may not know as much about is the hard work and growing success we’ve seen across Europe and beyond. We spoke with Pierre Gouraud, International Development Manager, about his time with Allied and our success in 2023.
What’s your name, role and how long have you been at Allied?
My name is Pierre and I’ve been working with Allied since May 2021. My role is International Sales Manager for the European Market including France, German speaking countries and Eastern Europe. I deal with 15 – 20 distributors in nine countries.
What does your role involve?
My main job is to keep in contact with our distributors to discuss the vehicles we have, what we can supply, what we cannot and see what the demand is. I’m basically working to keep them happy as much as possible. In the UK we have one major customer in Motabilty, but in Europe there are many customers and distributors we need to keep happy.
Building relationships, trust and keeping the relationships strong is really important, especially because it’s a small community in the industry in Europe. You want to keep a good name as the distributors talk to each other.
I’m in constant contact with Alex Roth who covers other countries in Europe, Chelsea and Rachel in Sales Admin who do a great job, Customer Service and Marketing and sometimes with the Accounts team. That’s one of the good things about my job, I’m in touch with lots of people every day.
Also with engineering team, they are really helpful and open. I chat with them with feedback from our customers for example, on the Freedom with the new ramp and conversion. We sent feedback and they’ve made the ramp even better going forward.
What have been the biggest changes since you started?
Since I joined the company our team have new distributors in new countries, including the most important distributor in the Netherlands and new distributors in the Czech Republic. We’ve also worked hard as a team to increase sales in France, Germany and Poland
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced?
Brexit and the new paperwork because of those changes. There is no week without at least some issue caused by it. It’s very frustrating but we work hard to mitigate those issues as much as possible.
We’ve also sometimes had a lack of left-hand drive vehicles which is difficult when we know we could sell even more if we had them.
What have been the best moments so far?
I really enjoy bringing distributors to the Glasgow site to show who we are. It’s always good when they can come to the company, and they’re always impressed by the scale and professionalism of the operation.
Also, the exhibitions like Rehacare in Germany really show why we excel. It’s also amazing to get the chance to get new distributors onboard at those events.
2023 was a big year. Can you tell us about it? Why was it so successful?
We had plenty of vehicles to sell as manufacturers recovered from the semi conductor shortage, especially from May which was great. We could sell almost every vehicle we wanted to distributors.
There was also a special government backed program in Poland where there was a grant which paid up to 70% of the cost of a WAV and helped sales in that region. Countries in Europe don’t currently have a scheme like Motability to support with WAV purchases, so this was a fantastic initiative.
France also had a big boost in sales due to the Olympics and the need for accessible taxis for 2024. It’s always interesting when events and changes can provide sales and opportunities.
What does the future look like for you and the international team?
We are growing and have a new person in the international team, Giampaola Nairi, which is showing how the business is growing and investing in expanding our sales in Europe. With the correct supply I’m sure we can continue to grow and the new vehicles coming on stream will be great for our customers.
Everything feels like it’s improving at Allied every day which is always really exciting!
In your time at Allied we’ve heard you’ve come to love Scotland. Why is that?
In Glasgow as a city, the people are very friendly, and the country is very beautiful. Every time I come the weather is nice, so I think the rumours about rain aren’t true!
Thanks to Pierre for his time and for telling us more about the work of the international team. If you’d like to work at a company where the future is bright then click here to see our current vacancies.
