MATT HINE

Like anyone who has ever worked in a retail environment will testify, no two days are ever the same at Lexus Liverpool. It is easy for people to forget that we are effectively a shop, and therefore the working day is always varied, exciting and unpredictable!

A typical day for me usually entails getting involved with the team meetings of a morning and making sure we are all set for the day ahead, communicating any brand and product updates so that the team are fully up to speed when dealing with clients, allocating leads that have come in overnight and checking through our customer satisfaction returns to make sure we are delivering on the Lexus covenant of “Experience Amazing” in our customer interactions. This is generally all before 9am! Then it can be anything from brand meetings, staff appraisals, interacting with our fantastic customers and checking the team have all they need to deliver memorable moments at every touch point.

This is always an interesting one…. I was literally working as a waiter in a cocktail bar when my first motor trade opportunity was presented to me. I was waiting on a large table who were on a belated Christmas evening out in early 2000 and it transpired that they were all from a Vauxhall Garage in Crewe. The Managing Director of Grasmere Vauxhall settled up and asked me if I wanted a day job selling cars. Two weeks later I was joining the team at Grasmere and the rest as they say, is history.

I worked my way up through the ranks from selling cars to Business Manager which involved organising finance deals for customers. After winning Business Manager of the year for Lookers in 2010 I was promoted to Head office to work in the Finance and Insurance Team looking after up to 26 businesses from a process point of view and delivering training to the teams which delivered some amazing results.

The next stop on my journey was a move into Sales Management back in a dealership which reminded me just how invigorating the hustle and bustle of a busy dealership can be but, always being ambitious, I then moved up to General Manager overseeing the whole dealership operation and took over the reins at Lexus Liverpool in 2016.

What does innovation mean to Lexus Liverpool?

Lexus as a brand are synonymous with innovation. This is why we are proud to be associated with The Innovation in Business Awards, It’s a great fit for a brand like ours.

In our ever changing times and with net zero and sustainability at the forefront of everyone’s agenda, be it private owners or businesses, we offer a solution for everyone. From our industry leading self charging hybrid vehicles, to our plug in offering and our exciting range of fully electric vehicles the All New RZ450e and UX300e, we have all the right powertrains in the right market at the right time to assist people in reducing their motoring carbon footprint at a pace to suit them and that they are comfortable and confident with. This level of choice is truly innovative and no other brand currently has the diversity of offering we have with the expertise and credentials to back it up.

What is your goal for the next year?

As we move towards 2024, the future for Lexus Liverpool is super exciting. We have a new product launch to look forward to in quarter one with the arrival of our new entry level car - the LBX. This addition to our range will bring our brand to a whole new audience so naturally, we are planning our biggest launch yet and that is very much priority number one for 2024. Watch this space! With the arrival of LBX and the volume expectations from Lexus, we will be continuing to expand our team to make sure that we can continue to deliver class leading customer experiences. We will also be further investing in our existing team members to help them grow and fulfil their career aspirations.

Our overall goal is to keep delivering our legendary Omotenashi (the art of Japanese Hospitality) to customers, making memorable moments and continuing to grow our amazing business in the Liverpool City Region.