Cripps leading ATL Auto’s march
AS a young man, Matthew Cripps enlisted in The British Royal Tank Regiment: he wanted to see the world. After six years, he traded in his military fatigues for corporate suits and embarked on a career in the auto industry.
A quarter century later, his tour of duty has led him to Jamaican shores as ATL Automotive’s group general manager. Cripps, 47, was passed the baton earlier this month from Danville Walker, who also boasts military experience.
The new group GM shared his plan of action.
“I’m looking forward to working with our sister companies and to do battle with our competition to get a bigger market share. 2015 for ATL Automotive will be a growth year,” said Cripps.
Big on customer service, he said he intends to remove the hassle associated with buying a motor vehicle by transforming the dealership into an in-house “one-stop shop”.
“Come January 1, we’ll be launching ATL Auto Select Finance. We will be facilitating and helping to process bank loans in each of our locations. So, instead of taking a month to eight weeks, customers can be approved for a motor vehicle loan within five days. The pre-qualification will take just 15 minutes,” he said.
Cripps listed Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica, National Commercial Bank, First Caribbean Bank, Jamaica Money Market Brokers, and First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union as the financial institutions that will be powering the project.
“We want to grow the dealership and ATL Automotive brand to the other Caribbean islands,” he said.
The new group GM said despite the unfortunate tag of Third World country, Jamaica had the ability to punch way above its class.
“I don’t see Jamaica as a Third World country. If you look at our workforce, our financial industry, our banking, our commercial businesses, our lawyers, and certainly our ATL Automotive premises, we’ve definitely got First World facilities,” he said.
He should know. In 1987, the Cheltenham-born Cripps started as sales executive of Northfield Volkswagen and Audi. He eventually rose to the position of general manager. Eleven years later, he joined Sytner/Penske Group as a Mercedes-Benz sales director. He opened his own dealership in 2005, but migrated to Australia after four years. Prior to arriving in Jamaica, he ran one of the largest BMW dealerships in Europe, which is based in The Republic of Ireland.
“What I’m trying to do is to bring first-class service to all our customers,” he said. “You can call it British determination with Jamaican style.”
The new group GM said there would also be addition to ATL Automotive’s current line-up.
“We’re looking to grow our franchise portfolio. We will hope to have a new offering by late September 2015,” he said.
ATL Automotive, part of the Sandals/ATL Group, is the authorised dealer for Jaguar, Land Rover, Range Rover, Audi, Volkswagen and Honda.
“Next year, we’ll be offering the standard VW Golf. That is currently the number one selling car in the US and Europe. We’ll also be bringing in a price-competitive VW Jetta. We’ll be bringing in the new Audi Q7, the A3 and S3, and for Jaguar/Land Rover we’ll have the new Discovery Sport, and the Jamaican staple: the Honda.”
The GM, who is single and has no children, said he is looking forward to his new assignment.
“I welcome any customer feedback, good or bad, as we make ATL Automotive Group the number one in the Caribbean, while providing employment to our local economy,” he said.