Manbat addresses low-price competition with revised Numax range

Manbat, the UK’s largest automotive battery distributor, introduced its Numax brand in 2002 to commemorate the company’s 50th anniversary. Since its launch, Numax brand awareness has become almost universal, and Manbat says it has established itself as one of the country’s most popular aftermarket brands. To equip the brand, and those distributing it, for the next decade, Manbat has refreshed Numax’s visual identity as well as its offering within the automotive products range.

Marketing manager, Myles Pemberton, explains the rationale: “The quality of the Numax product has never been in question, which is one of the reasons behind the brand’s great success. However, we recognise that there has been a shift in the market in recent years as a host of very cheap, low quality batteries have flooded the aftermarket and disrupted its balance.

“Therefore, although we will not compromise in the quality of the range, we have refreshed the product offering to reflect the requirements of our automotive customers,” he added. As a result, the new Numax line-up includes three model ranges: Standard, Premium and Supreme.

“As would be expected of a brand with such strong consumer awareness, particularly in the leisure and marine sectors, where it is the premium brand and the most popular original equipment (OE) fitment with many luxury yacht builders, each model incorporates the latest battery technology,” Pemberton adds.

“The entire Numax automotive range is produced on our behalf by OE battery manufacturers, so in addition to their sealed status, these batteries also feature market leading punch-plate technology, which means they have a level of durability that these cheap alternatives simply cannot reach.

“Although the price should come way behind the quality factor, the reality of many low quality and cheap batteries in the market means that we have to price the range at a level to enable our customers to compete.

“So the final benefit of the refreshed range is our ability to realign the pricing to a level that makes such a high quality product competitive. In short, the new Numax automotive range delivers high quality, but is now priced at an entry level and so provides buyers with an awful lot of battery for a very small outlay,” concludes Pemberton.