SEAT to flex fleet muscle
June 10th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
SEAT says it has helped its dealers buck the recession by consistently growing retail market share. Fleet is next.
The firm commands 1.64 percent of the UK market so far in 2010.
This is up from 1.5 percent in 2009 and 1.38 percent in 2008 – and, thus far, it has largely been driven by more profitable retail sales.
Now, the firm intends to further step up, by targeting fleet sales. ‘Fleet is a side of the business that’s now growing,’ said a spokesman. ‘This is something we are looking to continue.’
It will not be by pushing fleet at all costs, though. Rather, SEAT wants to expand the more profitable corporate side of the business.
‘Thus far, our ‘real’ corporate sales, excluding Motability, are around 2 percent of the market.’
Fleet sales manager Nick Andrews, formerly of Audi, wants to push on with this. The firm is targeting recent high-PR deals such as a 500-car fleet with Centrica as the key type of deals.
‘Centrica say we were not the cheapest but we had the most attractive package, thanks to our green cars and young image.
‘The professionalism and flexibility of our corporate division also helped strike the deal.’
SEAT’s largest fleet deal to date, it says more wins of this type are on the way for the firm.
If you are a SEAT car dealer, how are you planning for this increasing focus on the fleet side of the business?
By Richard Aucock