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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the British Vehicle and Rental Association. During that time, it's grown from just 12 members when it was founded in 1967 to over 900 at the end of 2016, and has evolved into one of the largest and most influential trade associations in the country.
Its members are responsible for nearly half of all new vehicle sales in the UK every year and, as of the end of 2016, it's responsible for a fleet of over 4.7 million vehicles. This marks significant growth since 2012, when the fleet it represented numbered just over 2.7 million vehicles and a huge increase over 1976's figure - the first available record - that shows it at around the 114,000-vehicle mark.
Since December 1967, when the association was incorporated, there have been 26 chairmen of the BVRLA, the most recent of whom, Simon Oliphant, was elected in June 2015. Coinciding with the 50th birthday celebrations has also been a revamp of the association's logo.
Speaking at the organisation's Annual Dinner, which marked the anniversary this year, Oliphant said of his time as chairman: "It is people that make the real difference in business. I am the 26th chairman of the BVRLA, and I have benefitted from following in the footsteps of the many talented and dedicated officers who have served the association over the years and helped it to evolve."
Currently, the leasing and rental sector contributes just under £25bn every year to the economy and employs around 317,000 people across the UK, statistics that have led the BVRLA CEO, Gerry Keaney to describe the association as "one of the most influential trade associations operating within the automotive sector".
The association sees itself as very much at the forefront of representing the sector to Government and to policy makers. Jay Parmar, director, policy and membership, BVRLA said: "We're buying over a million vehicles every year and it's vital that we're at the table, talking to Government."
According to Keaney, however, some - including those in Government - are still to be convinced of the merits of the sector: "The Treasury keeps coming back to visit our sector in terms of the tax take opportunity and we believe that there's still a real job to be done and a real communication programme on behalf of members about the positive impact of the company car."
Furthermore, the challenges that the organisation will face in future months and years - especially with the changing face of emissions and the increase in regulations and compliance - are the key issues that the BVRLA must face, according to Oliphant: "The amount of regulation and compliance that we have to cope with now as an industry has just grown exponentially and the BVRLA has got to keep rolling and keep helping [its members] with that."
In terms of CO2 emissions, the rental and leasing sector is actually one of the cleanest automotive sectors, with average CO2 of 115.3g/km, which compares favourably with the UK's overall average of 120.1g/km. Much of this impressive performance is due to the organisation's support of the purchase of ultra low-emission vehicles.
According to Poppy Welch, head of the Government-backed Go Ultra Low organisation that promotes low-emission vehicles, the leasing and rental sector is responsible for around two-thirds of the sales of EVs and ULEVs in the UK.
But what does the future hold for the BVRLA? Well, Keaney says 2017 is going to be a "very significant" year in terms of both challenges and opportunities for the sector. One of the biggest challenges is what leaving the European Union means for the rental and leasing sector. Meanwhile, issues like the new company car salary sacrifice rules will come into play. As well as this, the new way that cars will be tested for CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency will also have an impact on both VED (the rules for which will change shortly as well) and BIK rates and will likely make both more expensive.
As well as these challenges and opportunities, the industry and the BVRLA will need to keep an eye on the rapid advances being made in the fields of connectivity and autonomy. Despite these challenges, Khaled Shahbo, managing director, UK and Ireland of Enterprise Rent-a-Car, described the sector as "resilient" and "adaptable", while Keaney said that the BVRLA will embrace the "opportunities" that market changes can bring about.
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