Greece

Today's changing economy is reshaping the entire automotive industry from suppliers to the final consumer. Consumers are less interested in brand loyalty, and more interested in price, reliability and value-added benefits. The Sfakianakis Group, the exclusive distributor for Suzuki vehicles in Greece since 1968 and in Bulgaria since 1993, understands changing times and has improved the car buying experience in every aspect.

The Sfakianakis Group was the first company to introduce Suzuki to Europe, so they have a well-established history and extensive experience adapting the brand to be successful in the Greek market. This enables them to meet the demands of their consumers and increase customer satisfaction by providing outstanding after sales services, and building long-term personal relationships based on reliability, trust and consistency.

Over the last 12 years, Suzuki has become one of the most prominent players in the Greek market. In 2002, Suzuki's market penetration was four times higher in Greece than in any other country in Europe.

Compared to its counterparts in Japan, Suzuki has ranked No. 3 for more than a decade and controls 20 percent of the Japanese market with sales of 11,000 vehicles annually. Furthermore, Suzuki has remained the leader in the four-wheel drive segment from the very beginning.
Stavros P. Taki, managing director of the Sfakianakis Group

All Suzuki employees and dealers in Greece enjoy working for a customer-centric company that cares about customer priorities and continuously focus on building value-added products and services to the customers.

Their competitive advantage has been the ability to reinforce the market perception of Suzuki as a manufacturer of technologically unique niche products by delivering distinctively sophisticated services to their customers. Through innovative promotional efforts, they have associated the image of Suzuki with timeless satisfaction and enthusiasm.

In order to directly control the quality of service throughout the entire vehicle ownership cycle, the Sfakianakis Group has established its own retail chain called, Personal Best. Its six dealerships currently account for 50 percent of Suzuki sales in the Athens market. It plans to expand its chain of dealerships throughout the Greek region to support the existing national network of 60 authorized Suzuki dealers.

Managing Director Stavros P. Taki states, "We believe the future of the automotive business is in retailing, therefore we have invested heavily in this area to sell 24,000 vehicles a year. More than half of those vehicles will be Suzuki vehicles sold mainly through our Personal Best dealerships".

It is very important for them to track customer satisfaction and enthusiasm after the sale. The highly trained sales force is technology oriented to meet the needs of the new generation of automotive customers. The company understands the importance of becoming a "single source" automotive retailer, so they have diversified their range of activities to provide financing, leasing, and insurance services to customers.

In addition to its core activity of distributing Suzuki vehicles and motorcycles, the Sfakianakis group is involved in many activities including the sales of Van Hool city buses and the manufacturing of its own buses with MAN components, and the exclusive distribution of DAF trucks and Landini tractors. They have also established subsidiary companies for automobile retailing (Suzuki, Opel, Chevrolet, Cadillac, etc), leasing, car rental (National Alamo), general insurance services and courier services. Due to its success and desire for investment and growth, the company was listed on the Athens Stock Exchange in 1997.

The company's vision for the future is to remain loyal to their original philosophy of quality differentiation, outstanding customer services and continuous growth.

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