BUSINESSCAR AWARDS WINNER: Ampera shines a light on Vauxhall
Date:
05 August 2013
Looking ahead, more work on wheels and tyres will help the Insignia's whole-life cost in particular when the facelifted model arrives in September, as well as benefiting the 2014 model year Astra. "Some of it is tyre profile, staying the same size but with a more common profile at a cheaper price, and we'll also look at tyre sizes, maybe where we have wheels one-inch bigger than the competition," Taylor reveals. He said the company is likely retain the larger wheels as a no-cost option for user-choosers, though.
"We've made good progress on whole-life costs, [but] there's still quite a bit more we can do and it's about getting it right on the right vehicles." That attitude has been something of a change internally for Vauxhall, which is now more aware of the needs of the corporate department when specifying vehicles. "The product team is now very fleet-focused and understands what drives SMR, so we get to signal what we want," says Taylor. "Critically, it's about future cars, the next-generation Astra and Insignia, and when they are designed, to have fleet in mind from day one. We need to have the best-looking cars but also with the best costs."
"We need to get smarter at giving our opinions. In the past we'd not had a loud enough voice in decision-making three years out," he continues. "If you're costing an extra £100 per car across a fleet, it could add up to a phenomenal amount of money."
But it's the focus on true fleet registrations that will dominate Vauxhall's thinking for 2013, and Taylor says it has begun healthily. "We won more business last year than in any of the past four or five and we've started the year with more single-badge deals than before, which should grow our true fleet share through 2013," he concludes. "We're really pleased and optimistic - we've made the right decisions and we're in good shape.
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