Bums on seats sell cars. In an increasingly complex car market, it’s a simple mantra espoused by BMW Ireland boss Helen Westby.
As the head of the premium German car brand’s Irish operation, she is steering not only the rollercoaster transition to electric cars, but also a complete overhaul of its sales model. So she finds it useful to remember what’s at the heart of every transaction.
Confident of her brand’s range of cars, she sees her job as helping to get people to give them a try. Once tempted to test-drive, Westby believes most who can afford them will buy from its BMW or Mini brands.
Yet, it has been far from plain sailing. This year shows strong promise: BMW sales are up 17 per cent at 1,156, while new model arrivals at Mini have driven monthly sales up 60 per cent to 153 cars, of which 83 were EVs.
However, BMW’s EV sales are down 40 per cent with just 120 new all-electric cars registered so far this year.
While the German brand was one of the early advocates of EV technology, launching its all-electric i3 back in 2013, it has been criticised for hedging its bets on power train technology. As many mainstream buyers hold back on making the leap to electric, that seems a sensible approach.
Sales growth for the German carmaker is strongest in plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales, up 64.5 per cent on last year. With 811 registrations, they now make up 62 per cent of the brand’s sales.
Despite the slump in all-electric car sales, the amiable Englishwoman remains an EV advocate and still believes they are the long-term solution for customers.
“It’s an exciting time for the industry. Never in our lifetime will we see this scale of powertrain change. There are always going to be some stumbles, and it is never going to be seamless.
“BMW’s range of vehicles means we’ve got a car for every customer, and we should continue to do that. For me, it’s about our sales executives ensuring our customers get the right car.”
A major issue impacting EV sales has been mainstream consumer uncertainty, fed by misinformation and disinformation from a variety of sources.
Has the car industry failed to get its message across, to help inform and reassure the public on EVs? “Failure is a strong word. I think we all have our part to play. We are in the transition. I don’t think it’s failure.
“The analogy I would use is that we are only on the slip road as we join the motorway, or at the very best in the slow lane. There is so much more that can be done around the infrastructure, around the DC charging network and making sure the chargers are in the right place. Providing the right support schemes is also important.
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“For example, a new scrappage scheme would be welcome. And making sure we have some consistency in relation to benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax. Making sure that the grant system is consistent. The Government’s role is to make sure we have a clear map for what they will support.
“Then, as we bring it down to manufacturers, yes, we have our part to play. We need to educate our customers and help them through the transition to electric. I think we are doing that in the BMW Group.”
On a potential scrappage scheme to promote EVs, Westby says: “The Government will get it back on taxes in the long term, so it’s about paying up front now for something they are going to earn dividends from in the future. But you can’t forget either, the need to make our contribution at a European level to CO2 emission reductions. We have our part to play.”
The auto industry’s drive to increase EV sales is partly driven by the threat of hefty fines from the EU if CO2 targets are not met.
Under the EU’s 2025 CO2 emission targets, more than one fifth of automakers’ sales need to be fully electric, but EVs only accounted for 13.6 per cent of new car sales in 2024.
Europe’s auto industry has estimated it could face €15 billion in fines for missing those targets and has called for the European Commission to waive those fines, at least until the market stabilises.
According to Westby, if all manufacturers did their part, “we would not be in the situation of fines. BMW takes this seriously, and we will not be fined”.
She believes the fines serve a purpose. “It’s great to give us focus.”
Aside from the practicalities of owning an EV, one factor that is deterring many buyers is price.
There have been massive increases in new car prices over the past six years, particularly in the premium market.
“The key thing is that it’s across the board. For me, the technology that goes into those cars is massive. That’s where the increase in costs will be. Over time, we’ll see economies of scale. These cars have been expensive to produce, so prices have had to rise. It’s not about increasing profits – it’s the cost of production.”
Any future drop in new car prices through economies of scale will be a double-edged sword. Falling new car prices drive down the residual value of used cars, as many EV owners are already discovering.
“Residual values are something our customers care about,” says Westby, “but we have financial products to help with that. Over time, it will change.
“Are residuals affected? They are today. But we have a protective financial package for that in the form of personal contract plans (PCPs). Lower residuals also bring new customers into the market for our cars – people who previously couldn’t afford EVs.”
Westby defends the extensive new technology in modern cars, rejecting the suggestion it is driving unnecessary price increases. “We are in the business to sell cars, and customers want that specification.”
The rise in car prices has also created opportunities for new brands, particularly those from China.
“I think we’ve always operated in a hypercompetitive marketplace. The Chinese brands can produce cars much cheaper than we can, but that’s not our core segment. Our customers are looking at the premium segment. Any car will get you from A to B. We’re looking for customers who want to do so in a premium car. Yes, we will lose some customers, but with our priorities, our range and our service, we will always attract buyers.”
Looking ahead, those customers may be buying online. From March, Mini sales will shift to the new agency model, in which prices are fixed, and customers can complete their purchase online before collecting the car from a designated dealer – or buying in person at a set price.
Instead of commission-based sales, dealerships will receive a fixed handover fee per car. Westby declines to reveal the amount.
“We are being courageous. Some manufacturers have chosen not to take this route. But we are 100 per cent committed to go with Mini and BMW. We go live with Mini on March 1st. We’ve done a lot of preparation with our retailers – and a lot of training.”
“I think it’s the right thing for us and for our customers. Our customers don’t want to go in and start haggling over price.”
Yet, for the company and its customers, a complete move to digital sales isn’t likely.
“Bums on seats sells cars, and you can’t get that online. For the foreseeable future, a retail network will still be necessary.”
For dealers, revenue streams are not just from new car sales. Used car sales and aftersales services are crucial.
And there are choppy waters ahead in these streams. Unstable residual values hit used car values while EVs generally have lower aftersales and servicing needs.
Westby says BMW’s dealers will still have strong aftersales business due to the large number of petrol and diesel engine cars still in its fleet – and that will continue to be the case for a decade or more.
However, securing aftersales work isn’t the challenge – finding workers is.
“We can’t get enough technicians. The bigger issue is securing apprentices.”
As the former head of BMW Group’s Training Academy for the UK and Ireland, Westby knows the issue well.
“When I was running the academy, we had 550 apprentices on the programme at any one time. It’s a three-year programme in the UK, while here it is a four-year programme. They come out as a general motor mechanic. They then go on to do two years’ training in BMW Group to become a qualified BMW technician. You could become a doctor in that time.
“I’m really passionate about working with the Government on this, seeing what I can bring from my learnings to help attract young people to do apprenticeships in the motor industry, retain them and review the syllabus.”
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Retention is a widespread problem. Skilled EV technicians are being poached by other industries.
Westby encountered similar problems in the UK where “rail networks and other industries were taking our technicians”.
“We had to develop a retention package. That’s what we need to look at here. It’s simple: we need to offer the right salaries and treat people with trust and respect.”
Westby ran the BMW Group Academy for eight years, including during the Covid-19 pandemic. “We do 55,000 training days a year, it’s got 22 training rooms. We train all retailer staff there and I loved that role. It helped me make a difference with people.”
Before that, she held several area and regional roles within BMW UK and this year marks her 25th anniversary with the carmaker.
During that time she has witnessed the motor industry evolve, with more women entering the business.
She notes a recent dealership conference where there was an even mix of male and female staff in attendance.
Westby believes being a female executive helps in the motor industry, bringing a different approach to issues.
However, she disagrees with gender quotas, including those applied at BMW’s head office in Munich. “I so disagree with that. It should be the best person for the job, regardless of gender or disability. You should be recruiting the right person for the job.”
Her own career path started at 16, when she left school “with a few O-levels” and took up a job in a local branch of Barclays in her hometown of New Malden, a suburb of southwest London, where she grew up in a council house. She stayed with the bank for 15 years, before a corporate decision to relocate her department forced her to make some life decisions.
“It took six weeks for me to decide to take redundancy and it was the biggest decision of my life because then I came and worked for BMW.
“I got divorced in the midst of all this and was working as a single mother with two children while finding my feet in a new company as a regional manager.”
As she worked her way through various roles in BMW and looked after her daughters, she also completed an MBA.
“Looking back at this time, juggling these jobs and being a single parent with teenage kids, genuinely don’t know how I did it. But I wanted to do it – to be a role model to my girls. Equally, having left school with only a few O-levels, I wanted to add something else to my CV.
“I didn’t realise just what the MBA would do for me. It has been amazing to learn about different industries and the experiences that different people had. It adds a richness to your thinking and even now, when I think about strategy, I go back to my MBA and the lessons I learned.”
She also commends the benefits of studying neuro-linguistic programming. “It’s just the study of human behaviour. It helps you build rapport with people and understand them better.”
It has helped with the move to Ireland. “My maiden name is Quinn, so I clearly have some links to Ireland somewhere along the way, which is probably why I feel like I’m at home here.”
Yet settling into the Irish market wasn’t as quick as she initially presumed.
“When I arrived here, I wondered ‘how different can it be?’ Yet it took the best part of a year for me to settle down, because I think there are a lot of similarities in Ireland [with the UK] but there are also some massive differences as well.”
Westby highlights the cultural differences, which she says are easy to miss unless you live here. Now living in Skerries, Co Dublin, she feels she has assimilated.
“I have to underline we are totally separate. And being part of Europe underlines that as well. I would say, we have full autonomy here. But of course, we take the best ideas from elsewhere and apply them here.”
She has another mantra when it comes to business strategies and tactics: case – copy and steal everything. “If in the UK they’ve got a great idea, we will copy it, of course. Strategically we will look at other markets and ask, does that fit with where we are heading, our vision. If it isn’t then we ignore, but if it is then we copy it.”
After 25 years at BMW, she remains as passionate as ever.
“I’ve loved every job I’ve done. If you don’t enjoy your job 80 per cent of the time, leave. The motor industry is changing, but we’re here to stay.”
CV
Name: Helen Westby
Age: 57
Title: Managing director, BMW Automotive Ireland
Family: Married to Simon with two adult daughters, Nina and Clare
Outside interests: Most of her time away from work revolves around family and pets – her two black Labradors, Poppy and Luna
Something you might expect: Her favoured choice of car is a BMW X5 – and her “must-have” option on any new car is a heated steering wheel.
Something that might surprise: “I’m learning to play the ukulele. It’s about mood and it’s fun. I can’t sing for toffee, but I find the lessons in the community school hilarious. The noises that come out of that classroom...”
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