It was in January 2004 when I began my career in the motor trade. A C.V. and covering letter, explaining my desire to work in car sales, were sent to twenty of the local Main Dealers from Kia to Volvo. My mass mail-out drew a rather disappointing three replys, two ‘thanks but no thanks’ and one phone call offering me an interview the very next day.
Fast forward a week and I find myself sat behind a desk at my local Vauxhall dealer wondering the the hell I was doing. Training consisted of a stack of brochures, a used car stock list and an earful of grief from an utter bellend of a Sales Controller. In reality you absorb very little from browsing brochures, it’s only when discussing requirements with customers and then attempting to find answers to their questions that you begin understanding the different levels of specifications and learn a vehicles unique selling point. A unique selling point is something that your product has, or can do, but the competition can’t, and I soon learnt that the Astra Eco4 had a doozy…
At the time a large portion of our cars were bought from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, probably because the area sales lady was amazingly hot. A week after a visit from her the forecourt would be flooded in 6 month old Star silver and Sapphire black mk4 Astras. Most were semi-sporty SXI models and humdrum LS specs, but a few were the Eco4. The Eco4 was essentially the LS spec, a rather dull one-up-from-base model with very little to recommend, but with a few interesting modifications designed to improve fuel consumption and lower emissions. Visually it looked similar to the LS but gained a tailgate spoiler and Eco4 side badging. Closer observers would notice the low rolling resistance tyres and slightly lower ride height. The underneath was fitted with an aerodynamic under tray and the 73bhp 1.7 Diesel unit was mated to a wide ratio gearbox. All of these modifications created a car that produced emissions of just 119g/km dropping it into the £30 a year road tax bracket. Impressive now, almost unheard of in the early noughties.
The sales technique was easy, as soon as any customer expressed an interest in a used Astra I lead them towards an ex-rental Eco4, point at it and say “£30 a year road tax”. Most customers asked me to repeat thinking they had misheard or that i’d got it wrong. All were astonished. The follow up was the killer line, Vauxhalls official MPG figure, “up to 80.8mpg”. Open mouths, open wallets.
During 2004 the replacement MK5 Astra was released with GM opting not to launch an equivalent economy model. Ex-rental and fleet Eco4s soon dried up thus making my two line sales technique redundant. Now of course mid-sized hatchbacks offering low cost road tax are two a penny. So whilst I can once again quote “just £30 a year road tax” I’m no longer offering anything unique.
Manual Choke 