New Stellantis structure to ‘reinstall fleet confidence’

Ten car and van brands, one central corporate team: that’s the complex conundrum facing the new B2B director at Stellantis, Tom Ray.

Promoted from B2B operations director last November, Ray becomes the second incumbent to take on the challenge following the business reorganisation two years ago, after the short-lived tenure of Nick Richards (now director, pre-owned vehicles).

His role encompasses Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall, Maserati, DS, Jeep and newly launched Leapmotor across cars and vans, working within a matrix structure alongside five heads of fleet (Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat/Jeep and Premium) and an LCV director who each report into the relevant brand sales director.

The short-term brief was clear, centring on two immediate priorities: first, to create an internal operation with consistent processes and communications across the matrix; second, to rekindle the relationships with customers on aftersales, working closely with the key account teams.

“We had to reinstall confidence in our fleet customers which had weakened post Covid and with the creation of Stellantis,” Ray told Fleet News at the company’s head office in Coventry.

“We went through a lot of organisational change in a short space of time. But we also had significant logistical issues and aftersales capacity issues that impacted our relationships.”

A substantial amount of work has already taken place to address these matters, including the creation of the B2B team – consisting of two heads of corporate sales, head of leasing, head of rental and Motability and head of B2B operations, all reporting into Ray – as well as harmonising internal systems and simplifying logistics processes.

New LCV aftersales network

More substantial improvements are ongoing, such as boosting aftersales capacity through the creation of dedicated LCV aftersales centres.

Eighteen are live, with six more in build, five of which will be opened within weeks. The ultimate goal is to establish a network of 34 across the UK. Most are brand agnostic with a handful of brand specialists.

In addition to enhancing capacity for van servicing and maintenance, the centres also free up availability at the car workshops – a double win for fleets looking to get vehicles back on the road as quickly as possible.

Running parallel to the van aftersales initiative is relaunch of the business centre network, based on a two-tier brand-specific structure of local business and professional centres.

Stellantis currently has 70 local business centres across 57 locations, each with dedicated van sales staff and extended displays. The entry criteria have been lowered to encourage more dealers to start the journey.

It also has 37 professional centres across 25 locations; they must meet additional criteria including more demonstrator vehicles, additional replacement LCVs, extended service hours and additional LCV ramps.

Ray’s department has been created to drive true fleet volumes and leasing/rental registrations, focusing on fleets with more than 50 vehicles.

“We present as Stellantis, but where we have long-established key account relationships with one brand, we will focus on that brand,” he said. “It’s an evolution that will grow with time. Each brand has its own identity which is why we have the heads of fleet. But we want our account managers to be confident on all the Stellantis products.”

Re-establish Stellantis as a key fleet partner

His five-year goal is to “re-establish Stellantis as a key fleet partner with confidence that we have the aftersales and logistics structure to facilitate their needs, but also to be at the forefront of the electrification of fleets”.

He recognises that, within the group, each brand has particular strengths with individual customer groups.

For vans, Vauxhall is the lead marque with an enduring legacy as the ‘home brand’ thanks to its long history of UK production, albeit now at just one assembly plant in Ellesmere Port with the imminent closure of the 120-year-old Luton plant.

Fiat is weighted towards the conversion market, particularly in camper vans and chassis cab, and will, therefore, be targeting growth in its panel van sales. Citroen, meanwhile, is biased towards the SME market, presenting an opportunity to improve its performance in the corporate sector.

The car brands cover every size and market sector, from small low-cost electric cars, such as the new Leapmotor TO3, though mass market SUVs to premium and sporty cars and off-roading with Jeep.

Ray believes DS has a huge potential to expand its presence in fleet, riding the coattails of the flagship No8 all-electric SUV due mid-year. He describes it as a “well-placed value for money product with high residual values” which will help to amplify the brand’s position in the fleet sector, particular with salary sacrifice.

“We expect to see a lot of growth in that channel this year,” he added.

Stellantis has, without doubt, the most comprehensive car range of any OEM but that does come with challenges, notably creating sufficient differentiation in some segments to justify a multi-badge offering– an issue Volkswagen wrestled with during the early 2000s.

Leapmotor's competitive advantage

A lot of attention is falling on Leapmotor, which offers a new proposition via the joint venture with the Chinese parent company. A range of stylish, lower cost models will be launched over the next couple of years, each using Leapmotor’s proprietary battery technology.

Amid a flurry of Chinese new entrants to the UK, Leapmotor will have a competitive advantage, believes Ray, because it can integrate immediately into the existing Stellantis infrastructure.

Already, 44 franchised dealers have signed terms, many Vauxhall sites due to the size of their showrooms, with a target of 60 by summer and 80 at year end. The network will be a mix of regional and national groups.

Just as importantly, Leapmotor will be able to exploit the Stellantis parts and logistics operation, ensuring that, from launch, it has 95% parts availability.

“For a new brand, this is unheard of; it’s a massive advantage,” Ray said.

He added: “We know the landscape is going to change with all the new Chinese entrants – not everyone will survive. But rather than fight them, we have joined forces with Leapmotor and we will leverage our strength as an established manufacturer to benefit both brands.”

With Stellantis reporting its electric vehicle registrations data at group level for processing under the ZEV Mandate, Leapmotor will also help to shift the odds in its favour.

Not that it needed that help last year; Stellantis was the first OEM in the UK to publicly confirm its compliance with the mandate targets for both cars and vans.

As those targets tighten this year (28% of new sales for cars, 16% for vans – albeit each manufacturer has individual targets and off-setting opportunities), Ray is confident Stellantis can remain ahead of the curve without taking drastic action.

“We want to meet all of our customers’ needs, but we won’t operate in a non-compliant manner.

“However, we won’t be dictatorial about taking a proportion of orders as full electric,” he added, a thinly veiled swipe at the well documented actions of some manufacturers in the fourth quarter of last year, discussed at length on the Fleet News at 10 webinars.

“We don’t have to play catch-up; we can maintain our position with some growth. Our trajectory is softer so we can continue to help our fleets electrify. I see us growing our true fleet corporate sales and also SME,” Ray said.

“The depth of our EV range across cars and vans puts us in an enviable position – we are already into our second-generation battery.

“Every fleet is different, but our teams have the knowledge to help fleets of all sizes to transform, especially on vans where it’s not as simple with considerations of downtime, connectivity and fleet management.”

Successful hydrogen trials

Stellantis has one other trump card up its sleeve, although admittedly experts are deeply divided about its viability: hydrogen.

The Vivaro Hydrogen van has completed trials with three major fleets over the past couple of months, with seven more planned, and has been building a positive scorecard.

Reduction in downtime is the biggest attraction thanks to the refuelling speed, making the total cost of ownership competitive versus electric for fleets with longer journey profiles.

The first production hydrogen model to launch in the UK will actually be the larger Movano within the next few weeks, which will be priced around £16,000 more than the battery electric model.

It has a similar payload, close to 1,380kg, but can be refuelled in less than five minutes for a range of 311 miles, compared to the BEV’s 55 minutes to 80% (205 miles) on a 150kW charger or six hours to 100% on a 22kW charger for a range of 263 miles.

This burgeoning range of vehicles and fuelling options is changing the role of a manufacturer. No longer about simply selling a van, the Stellantis corporate team spends more time discussing TCOs, infrastructure and user profiles with customers.

“It’s much more of a consultative relationship but it’s also 360-degree,” says Ray.

“We have discussions about infrastructure and how home, depot and public charging affects different fleets. But we also have our own connectivity with telematics which gives us an end-to-end service with tracking and preventative maintenance.

“This is the journey that we are going on.”