AS WITH many other business success stories, the foundations of Tim Mahony’s pivotal role in the Irish motor industry were laid with a fortuitous meeting and a leap in the dark.
Restless after a brief and mixed career working in sales for others, Mahony went into business with his brother, Denis, leasing cars from a premises in north Dublin.
They were among the first in the country to buy Toyota cars from Stephen O’Flaherty, a man who dominated the motor industry with franchises for Mercedes, Volkswagen and Audi and, at that time, the little-known and novel Toyota brand.
In 1972, the brothers leased eight cars to RHM Foods, the company that gave us household names such as Bisto and Gateaux. It was a good contract, but the brothers did not realise its true potential until they met with RHM’s managing director, Paddy Cotter.
It was Cotter’s enthusiasm for Toyota cars that alerted the brothers to the possibility of trying to sell more of these cars to the public. It was to provide them with a lucrative business opportunity.
The brothers approached O’Flaherty and a deal was quickly concluded. Taking over the franchise, the brothers were happy they had bought into something they could sell on a much bigger scale. At the time, cars such as Ford Escorts, VW Beetles and Hillman Avengers dominated the motoring landscape and chipping away at that domination and brand loyalty would be an uphill struggle.
However, apart from reliability and fuel economy, it was the Japanese practice of offering extra equipment that helped smooth the way with Irish customers. The first Toyota model sold here was the KE 20, a car that had tinted glass, hubcaps, seatbelts, a heated rear window and a radio as standard. Such novelties were never supplied as standard by the other brands on the Irish market.
The car cost £1,300, on a par with the Beetle and the Escort. Importing the cars meant financial pressure and an additional cost was involved in assembling them here. However, a Government regulation at the time required a manufacturer to gain 5 per cent market share for three consecutive months before they were allowed to import cars built outside the State. In June, July and August of 1975, Toyota Ireland broke the barrier that established it on a long road of high profitability.
Tim succeeded as well as he did for a number of reasons. Those who knew him say he had little interest in learning Japanese, but he took a considerable interest in learning about Japanese life and culture.
“He built up a rapport with them that was very impressive and they eventually trusted him,” says a colleague.
Tim became the second-longest serving importer in Europe behind his Dutch friend Evert Lowman. Toyota made both men extremely wealthy and the two exercised an unprecedented influence on Toyota’s expansion and European model line-up. “They were regularly consulted about major moves in Europe and model projects. That is mainly why both maintained independent empires when Toyota could have taken over the franchises itself and made more money,” says an industry expert.
His other great talent was straight talking with dealers. Dealers relied on him for guidance and he once charmed an SIMI audience by telling them: “The more I see of the professions, the more I love to look into the honest eyes of a second-hand car dealer.”
A noted patron of the arts and very agreeable in company, Tim was also extremely shrewd and had an autocratic management style until his later years, when he allowed other Toyota and Lexus executives more autonomy in running the business.
“At the time when he was building up the business it was Tim’s way, or no way. He could be quite inflexible and had a personal view of how things should be done. It was not always shared by others, but he was generally right,” says a colleague.
He expanded the business by buying Mount Juliet estate in Kilkenny. Those who knew him well say he was happiest playing his Tuesday morning four ball at Royal Dublin, and attending the annual Munster hurling final.
Tim Mahony died on Saturday at the age of 77.