2 Cheap Cars Appoints Huffer Founder as New CEO

One of New Zealand’s largest used car retailers has appointed the founder of Huffer as its new CEO.

According to industry estimates, 2 Cheap Car’s nationwide chain of 17 dealerships account for almost 10% of all used imported cars sold nationwide.

Director Eugene Williams who started the business with COO Yusuke Sena in 2011 says the appointment of new CEO Daniel Buckley is necessary to support an ongoing period of rapid expansion.

“We have had significant growth in recent years and the next stage for us is introducing the support and training infrastructure necessary to maintain the highest levels of customer satisfaction - Daniel’s experience in retail and business management will be fundamental to us implementing that,” he says.

Buckley an experienced entrepreneur who founded clothing business Huffer in the mid nineties, says the principles of retail are universal - the company needs to adopt a customer centric approach regardless of the industry they operate in.

He says one of the factors in the company’s growth rate has been vertical integration through the establishment of a vehicle buying business in Japan. Their off-shore buying entity ensures they are able to purchase a wider range of product - that is more suited to the needs of the New Zealand market.

“2 Cheap Cars is a phenomenal local success story, from humble beginnings to taking out the Deloitte award for fastest-growing retail and consumer products business just three years later.

“While meeting the quality and price expectations of the market is critical to success, the next stage in the evolution of the company will be to develop platforms to ensure we are operating at a level that is appropriate for our leadership position in the industry,

“This oversight needs to be in place at all levels in our supply chain - ensuring customers receive not only great value for money but a high quality vehicle that has been expert tested to meet the latest safety standards,” he says.

Buckley says like the clothing industry, car retailers need to look at how they manage themselves on a social, environmental, cross-cultural and ethical level as well.

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