Miller told us that fleet business in 2024 was good, even though Genesis went through a transition within the Hyundai organisation.
He said: “We had an existing fleet team, Hyundai had a fleet team, so what we’ve done is combine those two fleet teams together, to utilise the work and effort that Hyundai have done over the past five-years, with Tim White at the helm. To develop, and ultimately offer, a complete package through that team. For us, it’s that senior manager, director element – they’re able to now go and have a conversation across the board in the fleet sector.
“So, we’ve massively gained the ability to talk to people – because we’ve got a bigger team. It has grown since the coming together of the two organisations – so the fleet team has grown in volume, but now they’re a group service, so it’s a shared resource. Whether that’s contract hire and leasing, or whether that’s the end user, or corporate area team, they are all now both brands.
“Fleet business for us in 2024 has been brilliant, because we have that capability of having more people, going out to customers to talk about Genesis.”
We moved on to ask Miller if that was the major change since the brand won a Business Car Award?
He said: “We were doing a good job before, but we couldn’t get around to enough people. We’ve got more capability of getting out there – whilst still delivering that Genesis difference. All those things still apply, whether you purchase retail, fleet, or sal-sac, you still get that Genesis Personal Assistant – who will be attached to you. You still get the five-year care plan, so it’s still the same as the retail proposition – there’s no difference at all.
“We’re now in more businesses. When we were doing it ourselves, we had a database of customers we’d either found or been introduced to via leasing companies or we had them approach us. What we’re doing now, is continuing those conversations through the bigger team, but we’ve managed to unlock conversations that we’ve not had, or that the businesses either didn’t know about us, haven’t seen us, or that we haven’t got round to talking to. The demo fleets have been combined, and they all come out of one location. So, when someone goes in to talk about the Hyundai Group, they’re talking Hyundai and Genesis.
“Job need and middle management will be serviced by Hyundai and have always been. Now, what they’re able to do, is say, ‘you like those, you’re enjoying the group’s EV technology. Well, we’ve got something packaged up slightly differently, which is the Genesis.’
“Electrified GV70 for us was a huge car – particularly in that end user segment – being able to go out to more people. It took off with that car, we ran out of stock, it was out of production. It is now back, so we can move forward with the facelift, to all those customers.”
There’s obvious fleet demand for Genesis models, so we asked Miller if retailers would be doing fleet deals?
He said: “No, we’re centrally managing fleet. Then, we distribute that to the nearest retail partner – then that integration with the retailer is easier.
“With the new locations we’ll have across the UK and Scotland it will be easier. In Scotland we’ll have Arnold Clark – they already have Hyundai dealerships that we will be working out of. From a sales perspective, we will be working out of a facility in Glasgow, but we will be utilising all their workshops. So, we will utilise the collection and delivery between those sites, it will be much quicker than central servicing – with one compound!
“The original set-up was fine when we didn’t have as many cars! With more cars, we need a better solution, and as part of agency, we need to put something closer to the customer – but still come to the customer.”
We moved on to ask Miller what his fleet plans for Genesis were for the rest of this year?
He said: “What we’ve been working on with the fleet team, is that we went in on the ‘low hanging fruit’. As we already went to those who had an existing relationship with Hyundai. Now there is a Hyundai Group fleet team, we can unlock those very quickly, and when this happened in 2024, we got around a third of the people we wanted to.
“This year is about consolidation, so we’re going out to all those businesses, the big and medium sized ones, and work with them to see if Genesis is an opportunity. It might just stay as Hyundai, and in some instances, we’ve got customers just taking Genesis – but not Hyundai. So, it has worked both ways. Volume-wise, it’s worked more in Genesis’ favour, with the level of people we’re talking to.
“We’re consolidating with the three new cars – particularly the Electrified GV70! This is because fleet have been starved of the product, and the GV60, it’s our biggest seller. It is the car for us, it’s got the longer-range variant. The new one will have a bigger battery, and have a longer range, and when it starts hitting the road in the Summer, it will be a great opportunity for the team to go out push it again, with its upgraded interior, and external cosmetic changes.
“People who are in the GV60, are staying in GV60. We are conquesting bigger cars, or people that have been in plug-in hybrids, who’ve taken the first step to electrification, are going to Electrified GV70.
“Sal-sac for us is GV60, it is doing well, it’s all about positioning and awareness. A sal-sac customer has a similar awareness journey as a retail customer, they go hand-in-hand. We get awareness of the brand, the more GV60s we can get on the road, so more people will see them. The opening up of sites gives us the ability to give test drives easier.
“Sal-sac customers, we anticipate, will be new to the brand. We’re just starting a programme, where historically, we haven’t been able to serve a sal-sac customer particularly well with a test drive. Opening Genesis dedicated facilities, we will be able to serve more test drives, and we are looking at how we can open our test drive fleet to sal-sac customers, and to deliver a different experience than just going to the nearest dealer.
“We’re launching a campaign where sal-sac customers can apply, then we give them a two–three-day test drive. We deliver it to them, then follow it up with a call, asking if there are any questions, going over the five-year care plan – so they understand what they’re getting.
“We know we’re taking people out of existing EV products, they’ve had one but don’t want the same again, or they’ve looked at Genesis, and seen it’s an attractive car, with a luxury interior. We’re definitely seeing that with the Electrified GV70. People are are coming out of premium German opposition, and are coming into our product, because it’s a bit different.”
