Lorna McAtear on what fleets want from supplier partners (video)

In April, Fleet News was invited to China by the Yangtze River Delta Alliance, a partnership formed by the governments of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui in 2019, in partnership with 500 companies include SAIC Motor, Geely, Chery and the Jiangsu Society of Automotive Engineers.

We presented at a conference on market trends and opportunities in UK and Europe alongside experts from Auto Trader, KPMG and ASE to an audience of more than 100 automotive leaders of Chinese manufacturers and electric charging companies. We also visited the head offices of several Chinese manufacturers intending to launch in the UK.

As part of the presentation, we showed two videos, one from Richard Bruce, director of transport decarbonisation at Department for Transport, and another by Lorna McAtear, head of fleet at National Grid and deputy chair at the Association of Fleet Professionals.

Bruce gave an overview of the then-Conservative Government’s Decarbonisation and Net Zero strategy, including insight into the ZEV Mandate and the key staging posts to 2030 and 2035.

McAtear, who is responsible for 10,500 vehicles (almost 3,000 cars, of which more than 1,500 are full electric, and 4,500 vans, of which 500 are full electric, plus 260 trucks and one electric bus), presented her views on what UK fleets are looking for when tendering for business partners.

The context of the seven-minute video is vehicle manufacturer partnerships, but her views are just as relevant to any supplier looking to win business with UK fleets.