Fleet market strength driving growth for Fleet Alliance

The UK fleet market is in good health, despite the coronavirus pandemic and fewer miles being driven, according to Martin Brown, managing director of Fleet Alliance.

Growth is being driven thanks, in part, to the increased adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), with the financial incentives for a company car driver described as “brilliant” by Brown.

He said: “The company car space is likely to grow, even allowing for the reduced miles, because some of the people that previously would have opted out of the company car scheme now find a very low monthly benefit-in-kind tax situation.”

A supplier of vehicle funding and fleet management services, Fleet Alliance manages around 30,000 vehicles with a combined value of over £1 billion on behalf of corporate clients.

Almost 40% of new vehicle orders so far this year have been for electric vehicles. “If you break down that 40% figure, 25% are hybrids, including some plug-in hybrids,” said Brown. “But these are necessary stepping-stones in the journey to full electrification.”

The remaining 15% were for pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) – twice the current average UK registration rate.

Brown says that this has put Fleet Alliance on track to achieve a potential record year. “If you told me 12 months ago that we’d see that level of growth, I wouldn't have believed you,” he said. “Yet, despite fewer business miles being driven in the past year, that change might be a better fit for electric vehicles.

“Lower mileage and shorter journeys mean that it's easier to get the electric vehicle uptake in. It also takes away some of the range anxiety concerns.”