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Mazda to rename own-brand lease company
Date: 09 March 2009
Mazda will change the name of its captive finance lease firm from Mazda Business Partner to Mazda Contract Hire by the end of June, because it is no longer part of Ford.
"Business Partner was run through Ford Credit, but now it's just us," said Mazda's new fleet boss Peter Alibon (pictured), who used to work for Ford Credit before he joined Mazda.
Speaking exclusively to BusinessCar, Alibon said the in-house leasing firm would continue to be run by Lex. He had also spoken to the leasing giant about its relationship with Autolease following Lloyds' takeover of HBOS and was happy with the situation.
Meanwhile, Alibon said he expected Mazda to hold its 2008 market share in 2009.
"We're expecting a 1.7m market. That gives us about 40-42,000 units," said Alibon.
Mazda is also looking to cut back on daily rental and Motability business added Alibon.
"Motability has a high front end cost associated with it and our plan is to pull back on that, but keep a channel for the dealers."
