Bombardier homes in on off-road market

The Life: Bernard Leblanc, with Bombardier, talks about the company's shift in strategy when it comes to selling off-road vehicles in the Middle East.

Bernard Leblanc, BRP's vice president and regional general manager for Western Europe, Middle East and Africa. Adrian Moser for The National
Powered by automated translation

Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) is a Canadian company known for its off-roaders, all-terrain vehicles and ski-jets.

Bernard Leblanc, BRP's vice president and regional general manager for Western Europe, Middle East and Africa, talks about how the company's strategy for selling products in this region has shifted over time.

BRP has a retail presence in Dubai. But take us back to when the company first pushed into the Middle East. What was its strategy then?

We started off in 1989. We had, at the time, one distributor in charge of the entire region. Initially, demand was from someone knocking on our door and showing interest for bringing the products into the Middle East. Over time we expanded our presence and today we're present in nine countries with 13 stores.

How did the company's approach change over time in the region?

Over the last 10 years or so we've really looked at the Middle East as a growth market for us. We've taken more of an organised and structured approach to bringing the product to the Middle East - looking at consumer behaviour more closely, and making sure our product innovations are linked in to local dynamics. It really went from a passive model of taking products tested in our portfolio to an active approach establishing market trends with our distributors and making sure our product development is in tune with what's happening in the Middle East.

So how are some of those products created with locally desired features in mind?

We look at some of our ATV (all-terrain vehicle) models with capabilities specifically designed to sand and dunes, so they are very much linked to the Middle East reality and other markets like southern California. We try and look for common opportunities that exist back home and in the Middle East.

Do you first test your products locally before they are released en masse?

Not really. We try to get input from the distribution partners in the region, who know the dynamics of the marketplace. We try to get as much insight as we can from the marketplace to feed back to designers back home and get them to integrate those into future designs.

What else has been necessary for success, specifically in the Emirates?

Beyond having a retail location, you also want all the back-office service elements to be well in place. And that's one of the things we worked hard on with our partners. There was an investment ensuring serviceability was there, and strong, and that product availability for consumers was strong. Once you have all those elements in place you can push a stronger presence in the market.

So is BRP ready to expand further within the UAE?

There are plans, in fact, to expand our presence. Nothing that is firm at this present time, but there certainly are discussions ongoing for trying to identify suitable locations for us to have a similar presence in Abu Dhabi.