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The start point for the best source of fleet information |
Czaba Vincze came his current role with a wealth of omni-channel experience across multiple markets in the automotive industry, including several years' experience interacting with retailers.
He accounts Nissan's fleet success in 2021 and 2022, to the fact that they stuck to their structure, but further developed it. He says: "In terms of volumes it was very positive as well. Overall, our share is increasing - our fleet share is up year on year, in our fiscal year 22 as well. Similarly in 2021, we managed to increase - so overall it's positive."
Vincze is quick to identify Nissan's early adoption of EV power as the reason for Nissan's fleet success. He says: "Obviously we have our history and heritage in electric - in 2021, that was a popular volume fleet driver for us.
"In the meantime, we launched our EV360 strategy and our Nissan Ambition 2030, where we confirmed the future and all the developments relevant to that. Obviously, there's the £1bn investment in Sunderland, which for me in fleet that's very important, because I can refer to that and leverage on our investment in the market as well as in
the communication.
"Our customers have also changed their focus - we need to make sure that we have them shifting to electric fleet, because it's very difficult for them to decide when it comes to electric cars. It's not only the vehicle, it's the financing terms around the vehicles that they need to concentrate on, plus the infrastructure, not only for the company but also the charging for the driver.
"The third element is that my corporate sales managers must define and support our customers' fleet management. How can they make efficient decisions on how they use their fleet? That's very different with the shift to electric. Then obviously the forced decision is the vehicle choice.
"My view is we can help with the infrastructure, the charging and fleet management. For example, we had some webinars, after I started, in the previous calendar year, which we continued in the first quarter of 2022, to support them with best practice sharing. So, the webinars were not necessarily focussing on what we have to offer with vehicles, although at the same time we were launching Ariya, which is super important and spot on in terms of need, as well as penetration of this strategy.
"Ariya is the flagship, it's the best product I keep telling my team. We had the opportunity of a test drive event recently, obviously it was a huge success. I talked to some of the fleet decision makers afterwards, and it fits very well for them.
"So fleet is doing very well, mainly because we started a strategy, now we can penetrate even more because of the new proposition, and we have a solid structure, which we have maintained and fine-tuned in the past six months as well."
Based on first experiences, Vincze believes Ariya fleet customers will be a mixture of conquest and existing customers. He says: "Obviously, we have thousands of customers, and we have a very robust system in place for fleet CRM. We've invested money, time, and effort in further developing it to make it even more efficient. So, we will penetrate our existing customer base - who were waiting for this vehicle - probably for a different type of job title. As we already have the affordable Leaf, which taxi companies have focussed on as a working tool. They are looking at Ariya for management staff of the company. So, there's been interest from existing customers where Ariya fits - but differently.
"What we're also seeing is that Ariya is more of a premium proposition, as such, different customer types are looking at it now, alongside premium brands. So, this is where Ariya fits according to our experience."
How Nissan is perceived in the corporate market, Vincze believes is dependent on the different fleet buyers. He says: "Hopefully all of them would talk positively about Nissan. What's important is the customer satisfaction. We put a lot of emphasis on making sure that we satisfy their needs. For example, we've launched specific standards, requirements and launched a special dealer offer, which is called "Super Fleet Dealers". We have defined certain dealers in the UK, who have a very high level of fleet experience. I think these standards will satisfy our customers' needs.
"From a product portfolio point of view as well, I think we need to target every type of market - we have an open door. We don't close any of the fleet sub channels; we target all of them. We don't exaggerate any of the sub channels, but we have a clear idea of what we want to achieve there. So, Juke Hybrid is going to be important for users, Qashqai e Power as well for different propositions within fleet."
However, it's not just about the Ariya, Vincze believes other new models such as the Qashqai e Power has opened more doors as a transition to EV power. He says: "This is a new proposition for specific customer types that cannot go for a full EV - yet. The fact it doesn't plug-in, makes it a unique proposition, because it drives like an EV. This is an opportunity for us now, the Juke hybrid as well."
Vincze believes the semi-conductor crisis will continue to impact Nissan in the market, but more importantly, he doesn't believe Nissan are affected any differently to others. He says: "We are monitoring supply closely; we communicate to our customers. I think it's very important that they see when their car is going to arrive. So, the communication is very important - minimising the inconvenience, is our priority."
The Ariya may have just been launched, but Vincze tells me they only finished the pre-launch back in July, with activities for fleet customers to get early access to the new car. He says: "We used our Live Showroom in Watford first for fleet, to give them the chance to preview it. We have also used CRM campaigns, so we have continuously communicated about this product.
"We had one dedicated drive event for corporate and leasing customers at Millbrook in Bedfordshire, where we had a few pre-production cars for individuals to look at and drive at the private circuit. That was very important to see the difference, and for us to explain why we believe this is the best product that Nissan builds today. They were fully convinced. We have also taken the car along to fleet customer events."
Vincze admits corporate sales are what he's most keen on due to strong relationships - but the others are no less important. He says: "It is because we don't close any channels. So, I'm focussing on them all, maintaining all relationships, and I try to balance my team to meet with everybody and to have a very transparent strategy in how we support each area."
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