2023-08-28 20:05:01
“Very proud” are the words of Pía Vera, manager of Subaru Chile, the first woman to assume this role within the firm globally and in her first interview as such.
The executive -commercial engineer by profession-, who has spent more than 12 years in the brand linked to the marketing area, took office a month ago and her debut was the launch of the renewed Evoltis.
“The truth is that if you had asked me 12 years ago when I entered the automotive industry, I would never have imagined having made a career growth in this line. It is a tremendous challenge and I take it as such, deep down, to be growing in an industry that is potentially very masculine, but that, in addition, has also been changing in recent years. Particularly where I live today, which is at Inchcape -the firm’s representative in Chile- there are these efforts to promote female talent, and the truth is that, deep down, I am super grateful because they have done a job with me and with many other women to give us the tools and reach these positions with a little more leadership. For the factory, yes, I think it is not an issue, since their culture is to access them through merit and today it happened that it was my turn.
You know the brand very well, what do you think will be your hallmark at this stage?
Indeed, having been at Subaru for so long, I feel that part of building the current brand already has a lot of my stamp on it. So, for me, it’s still kind of like continuity. Obviously, I believe that the female perspective, in positions of this level, contributes a lot in the background, also from the post-sales perspective, where in my previous position I did not have much participation and obviously everything that has to do with the relationship with the clients.
I think that is where, probably, with the whole issue of the pandemic and a bit with the digitization of processes and everything, is where we have faltered the most in recent times. In this closeness to the client and in the concern for the entire process where we want to work and focus.
What are Subaru’s challenges for this 2023-2024
This has been a good year for us. The first challenge, which we already felt to be somewhat unblocked, was to have the supply of the factory back to normal and assured, that is no longer an issue and we can work more calmly in that sense. The main challenges come, first, from the manufacturers’ cost increases, which will clearly push not only the brand, but probably the market, to continue on this bandwagon as price increases.
It is not easy to make this known, because before it could be explained by the lack of stock, but technology and the rise in some components are causing this rise in prices that we were not used to as a country. There we have to work to be clear so that the client understands. This is true not only with our brand, but throughout the automotive industry and it is global, not just local.
And the second challenge?
There is a point that does not depend on us and has to do with the product cycle. Here comes a very important job with the factory and how we propose a line-up that we can refresh. We are going to look for versions that are available in other markets so that we can have them in Chile, whether they are engines or equipment variants.
Everything that has to do with electromobility one hundred percent, Subaru’s plan is clear and is designed for 2026, at the moment we only have hybrid variants and we will have to wait a bit to get on that car
Regarding sales, what are the goals for this year?
After almost five years, we have returned to our historical market share of 2% and we are very happy about that. The idea is to be able to maintain it and continue to grow in the segments in which we compete in the Chilean market. There are models that are not available, but I am sure that we will get new variants to, precisely, deliver a better offer of the products that we have today in the range and thus be able to satisfy our customers, who in general are very loyal to the Subaru brand.
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