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Seat plans to reappear 'on the radar' to SMEs
Date: 04 April 2012 | Author: Jack Carfrae
Seat is aiming to increase its presence in fleet following what its UK boss believes is a period of being off the radar to corporate users.
Speaking to BusinessCar, the Spanish firm's UK MD, Peter Wyhinny, said: "Seat isn't a rejected brand - no one thinks 'I don't want to buy one of those', but we're not on the radar in a lot of cases."
Wyhinny's comments come in the wake of a considerable expansion to the company's fleet team, which has grown from seven to 13 members over the past year, with one more appointment to follow in place of Sally Dennis, who recently left for a role at Mercedes.
He continued: "We're showing some good growth in fleet. It's about having balance and the portfolio. We'll do rental as well but it's about growing the business in a sustainable way. We've just agreed on a fleet package - servicing and MoT - which 98% of the network has signed up for."
Wyhinny said that Seat's fleet aspirations were largely with SMEs and that he was "trying to get the mindset away from huge corporates".
The company currently has 20 specialist fleet dealers, which it hopes to grow, as Wyhinny said: "We haven't set a minimum number or a ceiling on that - it could grow to 25 or 30. What we say to all our dealers is, just because you're not trading in fleet doesn't mean you shouldn't be."
He went on to claim that, despite the recently unveiled Toledo being pegged as a key business car for the brand, huge sales figures aren't expected, and it will act as a supplement to larger volume vehicles within the firm's portfolio.
"The Toledo before last [a four-door saloon and essentially a Leon with a boot] did about 3800/3900 a year, which isn't bad. The Ibiza and Leon families are the two main thrusts.
"We're not setting out to break records with this car. I see it as a support act to the Leon in the fleet segment. It will be priced lower than the Exeo and quite aggressively. We've put a lot of attention onto the cost basis of this car."
A new Leon is due to join the range in 2013, replacing the current model, which has been on sale since 2005. Wyhinny revealed that the next-generation model will be available with a variety of body styles, similarly to the Ibiza.
"The new Leon will have three body styles - have a look at what we did with the Ibiza and it will be a similar sort of thing. There will be an estate."
