Page 46 - Tropic Magazine Issue 12

Industry
Automotive

Passion and drive

Tropic meets Alan Ren
and Connie Kang, the
new owners of Audi
Centre Cairns with a
singular passion for
customer service.

Words Gavin King
Cars aren’t meant to have personalities.
ey are machines, made of metal and
plastic, rubber and fabrics. And yet, Mulgrave Rd. ree key guidelines drive
somehow, they are more than the sum of Alan and Connie’s business philosophy.
their parts. Cars don’t just take us from “We need to genuinely care about our
point A to B and back again. ey are customer, we need to be knowledgeable
status symbols and fellow travellers. about our products and, most importantly,
ey join us on driving holidays, mark we need to support and be part of the local
di ferent stages of our lives and evoke community,” Alan explained.
feelings and passions and (sometimes) “ e car industry is extremely where my focus was on li ting long-term
frustrations within us. Like we do for competitive and price sensitive. residual values of the Volkswagen and
each other. ough they are made of Customers are spoiled for choice and SKODA brands nationally.”
similar materials, you don’t get that constantly bombarded with o fers and
from a toaster or a fridge or a washing discounts on new cars. It’s important
machine. When you find the right model we remain competitive from a pricing
for the right moment in your life, cars point in comparison to our
mean something. competitors, however, price isn’t the We need to
Audi Centre Cairns dealer principal only factor as we need to di ferentiate di ferentiate ourselves
Alan Ren and his partner in life and ourselves by delivering exceptional by delivering
business Connie Kang understand this. service and value.”
ey know what cars mean to their Alan and Connie haven’t always been car exceptional service
customers. e high-powered Sydney industry insiders. Starting his career and value.
couple who rolled the dice and gambled with Deloitte in Sydney, Alan worked Alan Ren
on a move to the Tropical North fully with clients across a variety of industries
realise they are doing more than selling as an auditor and consultant. Shortly
and servicing functional, inanimate a ter gaining his chartered accountant At this point, we should mention Alan is
objects. Across a range of brands from qualification, he was poached by a client the ripe young age of 32. Connie’s story
Audi, Peugeot, Citroen, Skoda and to work in the company’s strategy is somewhat similar, not least because
Foton to second-hand vehicles, Alan department. e client was Kia Motors the couple met while working together
and Connie are selling qualities and Australia. ree months into his first at Deloitte. Connie went on to work in
values like safety, comfort, elegance, motor industry role, a bigger fish the healthcare industry before getting to
and reliability. Essentially, they’re here snapped him up. know the other love of her life – the
to provide a cornerstone of your “Another Deloitte car client I had worked couple’s delightful four-year-old
lifestyle. ey do it with passion, with, Volkswagen Group Australia, daughter Alana. A ter a career break to
commitment and very long hours o fered me the same role in their strategy spend time raising Alana, Connie
working both face-to-face with department,” Alan said. “I was with re-joined Audi Australia in Sydney as the
customers and behind-the-scenes on Volkswagen for seven years before brand’s Dealer Financials Manager. In
the business. moving up to Cairns, and I learnt so 2016, they first began planning a gigantic
Recently taking the reins at Audi Centre much. I was exposed to a variety of roles, leap of faith, viewing the relocation to
Cairns and Cairns Cars, they service including dealer strategy specialist, Cairns as a “now or never” moment in
customers with the kind of dynamic national dealer profitability manager, their lives.
energy and attention to detail you sales manager for NSW and the ACT,
might find under the hood of the cars national sales manager for used cars,
displayed in their dealership on company leet and company workshop,

46 • tropicnow.com.au