You need to see an (auto) analyst
If you go to a barbeque this summer and rant about only one subject to whoever's flipping burgers - then continue your monologue to other guests by the bar, in the line for the bathroom, to the taxi driver on your way home, to your partner as you pass out, and to your reflection in the mirror the next morning as you assess yesterday's damage - people would probably start to talk.
Unless, of course, you are Wojciech Drzewiecki. In which case, your obsession is entirely functional - you are a man with a passion, a passion that few people understand but many big companies pay for. A notorious, typically male passion that often starts and ends in childhood but sometimes turns into the meaning of life: cars.
Drzewiecki's earliest childhood memory is of his father working as an emergency services driver. For a small boy to see his dad saving lives while racing around town making a lot of noise and flashing a lot of lights must have made quite an impression.
Ten years ago Drzewiecki founded Poland's only car sector sales analyst firm, Samar. During the process from one-man-show to exemplary small business with 13 employees and clients including all the Polish car market leaders and the Polish government itself, Samar has bucked this country's boom-bust-boom trend with a decade of steady growth.
"We're now looking to expand into the Czech Republic and Slovakia," says Drzewiecki. "Once our product has reached a target of quality we have set ourselves here, we will move abroad."
The pinnacle of Drzewiecki's ten years of business is a new piece of software which can be used as a resource to determine Polish car buyers' behavior. It is, Drzewiecki argues, the product that will form the base of their international explanation and their defense against new rivals from abroad.
Although Drzewiecki has no direct competition, he has no illusions about the security of his business. "We do not have a monopoly," he says. "We have specialized in Poland and there are big international players that can and may enter the Polish market at any moment."
Nevertheless, Samar forged links with the auto sector early on in Poland's transition to a market economy.
"In the early days, it was difficult to persuade Polish companies to reveal their data to competitors," says Drzewiecki. "It was assumed that data are an industrial secret. In Japan, of course car firms have secrets, but sales data are exchanged with competitors so that consumer demand can be tested."
When he was starting out in his career, working at Nissan (Poland), it was indeed a Japanese man who gave Drzewiecki the idea of setting up a system of analyzing car sales figures across the country.
"I did not have a statistical mind," says Drzewiecki. "I had trained as a car designer in the Warsaw University Faculty of Technology," he reveals.
The first step was for Nissan to offer all companies their data in exchange for parallel data from other companies. Other Japanese car companies in Poland were the first to sign up to the system, and within eight months Drzewiecki was occupying the market niche that his Japanese friend had identified.
In the late '90s Drzewiecki moved from Nissan to Ford, still running Samar as a second job. But in 1998, his new employers asked him to leave so that he could concentrate on delivering a service that they were becoming increasingly dependent upon, viz. Samar.
The next year, 1999, was a record-breaking year for the Polish car market, with around 640,000 units sold. Drzewiecki says that from that time across the next five years until now he has analyzed growing difficulties in the market.
"The main obstacle to market development is government regulation," says Drzewiecki. "In a country with low car density and high demand, regulation can destroy the market."
On the subject of the biggest news in the auto sector this year - the failed Hyundai bid - Drzewiecki is skeptical about the idea that recent developments in Slovakia will bring the investment back to Poland after all.
"It would not look good for Hyundai to say they made a wrong decision by choosing Slovakia. It would be very bad PR, so I think it is not likely that the decision will be reversed and that Hyundai will come to Poland," he states.
But Drzewiecki also adds some precision on the matter of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the auto sector, which is often characterized by massive one-off investments involving thousands of jobs by big household-name car companies.
"Poland does not have to have the biggest car production in Europe. For us, component production can be more profitable, even though the image of producing whole cars is more attractive."
Given that Drzewiecki has devoted his life to cars, his tip for this country's FDI future could be a good one. But whether he is proven right or wrong, he probably won't mind too much. After all, he will still have his favorite toy to keep him happy, his E-class Mercedes.
Unless, of course, you are Wojciech Drzewiecki. In which case, your obsession is entirely functional - you are a man with a passion, a passion that few people understand but many big companies pay for. A notorious, typically male passion that often starts and ends in childhood but sometimes turns into the meaning of life: cars.
Drzewiecki's earliest childhood memory is of his father working as an emergency services driver. For a small boy to see his dad saving lives while racing around town making a lot of noise and flashing a lot of lights must have made quite an impression.
Ten years ago Drzewiecki founded Poland's only car sector sales analyst firm, Samar. During the process from one-man-show to exemplary small business with 13 employees and clients including all the Polish car market leaders and the Polish government itself, Samar has bucked this country's boom-bust-boom trend with a decade of steady growth.
"We're now looking to expand into the Czech Republic and Slovakia," says Drzewiecki. "Once our product has reached a target of quality we have set ourselves here, we will move abroad."
The pinnacle of Drzewiecki's ten years of business is a new piece of software which can be used as a resource to determine Polish car buyers' behavior. It is, Drzewiecki argues, the product that will form the base of their international explanation and their defense against new rivals from abroad.
Although Drzewiecki has no direct competition, he has no illusions about the security of his business. "We do not have a monopoly," he says. "We have specialized in Poland and there are big international players that can and may enter the Polish market at any moment."
Nevertheless, Samar forged links with the auto sector early on in Poland's transition to a market economy.
"In the early days, it was difficult to persuade Polish companies to reveal their data to competitors," says Drzewiecki. "It was assumed that data are an industrial secret. In Japan, of course car firms have secrets, but sales data are exchanged with competitors so that consumer demand can be tested."
When he was starting out in his career, working at Nissan (Poland), it was indeed a Japanese man who gave Drzewiecki the idea of setting up a system of analyzing car sales figures across the country.
"I did not have a statistical mind," says Drzewiecki. "I had trained as a car designer in the Warsaw University Faculty of Technology," he reveals.
The first step was for Nissan to offer all companies their data in exchange for parallel data from other companies. Other Japanese car companies in Poland were the first to sign up to the system, and within eight months Drzewiecki was occupying the market niche that his Japanese friend had identified.
In the late '90s Drzewiecki moved from Nissan to Ford, still running Samar as a second job. But in 1998, his new employers asked him to leave so that he could concentrate on delivering a service that they were becoming increasingly dependent upon, viz. Samar.
The next year, 1999, was a record-breaking year for the Polish car market, with around 640,000 units sold. Drzewiecki says that from that time across the next five years until now he has analyzed growing difficulties in the market.
"The main obstacle to market development is government regulation," says Drzewiecki. "In a country with low car density and high demand, regulation can destroy the market."
On the subject of the biggest news in the auto sector this year - the failed Hyundai bid - Drzewiecki is skeptical about the idea that recent developments in Slovakia will bring the investment back to Poland after all.
"It would not look good for Hyundai to say they made a wrong decision by choosing Slovakia. It would be very bad PR, so I think it is not likely that the decision will be reversed and that Hyundai will come to Poland," he states.
But Drzewiecki also adds some precision on the matter of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the auto sector, which is often characterized by massive one-off investments involving thousands of jobs by big household-name car companies.
"Poland does not have to have the biggest car production in Europe. For us, component production can be more profitable, even though the image of producing whole cars is more attractive."
Given that Drzewiecki has devoted his life to cars, his tip for this country's FDI future could be a good one. But whether he is proven right or wrong, he probably won't mind too much. After all, he will still have his favorite toy to keep him happy, his E-class Mercedes.
