Holman: "We're not the business in the UK we used to be"

The recent rebranding of ARI Fleet UK to Holman – the same name as its US-based parent company – comes more than a decade after it entered the UK market.

Its acquisition of one of the UK’s largest fleet management companies, Fleet Support Group (FSG), gave Automotive Resources International (ARI) – a Holman subsidiary – a strong foothold in the sector.

Ten years’ later and UK managing director Nick Caller (left), who took over from Keith Allen in 2019, says the name change reflects how the business has evolved and how fleets can benefit from its global reach.

“We’ve always been Holman,” says Caller. However, ARI – like other businesses owned by the group – had its own distinct branding. That changed in March, with the entire global organisation, including retail dealerships, vehicle up-fitters and fleet management, coming under the Holman name for the first time in almost 100 years.

“The world has been through unprecedented change over the past few years,” says Caller. “The impact of that on the automotive sector has been quite significant in many ways and this space is continuing to evolve so rapidly that it made perfect sense.”

Holman began trading as a single Ford dealership in New Jersey, USA, in 1924. Today, the global family-run business employs around 6,500 people and has more than two million vehicles under funding and fleet management.

Holman says its global team will work even closer together to deliver customers additional insight around supply chain, best practice, finance and electric vehicles (EVs), supported by local expertise to help implement fleet solutions for its customers.