Mana Premiere Automobiles Ltd (MPA), has now four of the six UK Infiniti Centres after it opens its latest Infiniti Centre in Leeds today and plans to add six more within the next three years.

“This is the second Infiniti Centre to open in the UK within a month and is a milestone in the brand’s development,” said Bernard Loire, Vice President Infiniti Europe and Middle East. “The UK is a key market for the growth of Infiniti and our ambition to take one in 10 luxury car sales across Europe by 2016. To achieve that we will need around 40 Infiniti Centres in the UK and thanks to partners like MPA we are on course to achieve that.”

MPA represents a first move into the UK automotive business by parent company, Qatar-based Saleh Alhamad Al Mana Co which has retailed cars since 1962 in countries of the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) region which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Today the group has a billion dollar turnover, 2000 employees and interests in the hotel, engineering and food sectors, as well as running successful Infiniti, Nissan and Renault dealerships in the GCC region.

“Like Infiniti, the Al Mana group puts customer service before everything,” said MPA Operations Director Lisa Ford. “Our philosophy is a simple one: customers are for life. At our Infiniti Centres we look after them not solely with welcoming surroundings, but with a deep understanding of our products and their needs.”

A former Mercedes-Benz retail director and general manager with HR Owen in London, Lisa Ford added: “By modeling our customer service on standards in the hospitality industry, not on those in the automotive sector, we offer a genuinely different luxury car experience. Feedback from customers so far has been incredibly positive.”

Ford, who joined MPA in February 2011, said Infiniti Centre Leeds would be offering a welcome to everyone on equal terms. “As a female, I know how daunting it can be to go into a male-dominated luxury car showroom, but the feeling here will be utterly different, just as it is at MPA’s other Infiniti Centres in Stockport, Glasgow and Birmingham. We are having special junior versions of Infiniti furniture made so not even the children feel left out.”

“Our goal is to be the number one Infiniti Centre in Europe,” said Centre Manager George Fitzpatrick, who joins Infiniti from Mercedes-Benz. “With the team, the location, the building and the Infiniti range I can’t see any reason why we can’t achieve that.

“The FX will do well here, and we have been getting a very positive reaction from fleet buyers to the M35h hybrid. Its CO2 emissions make it a very attractive tax proposition.”