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Skoda is gearing up its dealer network to better handle fleet sales and take on more business in the sub-25 vehicle sector.
As part of the relaunch of its Fit for Fleet programme, the firm plans to cherry-pick dealers and staff from its existing network and assess their suitability before letting them loose on the corporate market.
Speaking to BusinessCar, new fleet boss Patrick McGillycuddy said: "We're going to ask them to send their candidates to an assessment centre, so we're making an investment and making sure they have got the right guy to do the right job.
"We have appointed Paul Fitton [from within the firm] to lead the programme here for us, so he is dedicated to making our local business programme successful, whereas historically it was part of the area fleet managers' remit."
This is the firm's second attempt at the Fit for Fleet programme after the first version failed to deliver the expected results.
Speaking to BusinessCar in September, Skoda's managing director, Alasdair Stewart, said: "It didn't work for a combination of factors. In some cases we probably weren't selective enough in terms of the retailers, we didn't pay enough attention in terms of the type of people they recruited into the fleet roles, and we didn't give them enough support in terms of finding leads, demonstrators and things like that to manage leads and small business enquires. So those are all things we're starting to address as we relaunch the programme."
The dealer selection process will begin in December according to McGillycuddy: "We've announced [the programme] to the network and the assessment for candidates will happen in early December. It will launch in early January.
"There are well over a million companies running fleets of under 25, so we need to make sure we've got the right retailer, the right local businesses development manager, the right tools and we give them the right support."
He added that additional resource had been ploughed into the internal fleet team and there was more to come.
"We've moved from five area fleet managers to eight; we've beefed up the team. The area fleet team is now at full resource.
"We are in the process of recruiting a rental and Motability manager and that's the final piece of the jigsaw. [They will be in place] before the end of the year. That gives us the ability to grow the business and scale it up."
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