Vauxhall signals its growing fleet appeal at Company Car in Action

New Corsa may have been Vauxhall’s latest star attraction at Company Car in Action (CCIA), but fleet sales director, James Taylor, told Fleet News that there is more to come from the manufacturer.  

FN: What are your expectations for the rest of 2015? 

James Taylor: We’re on track so far, half-year, and at the end of the year we will be up in terms of market share – just under a third of a point – and we will be up more on CVs, by probably a couple of percentage points. New Corsa has started out well; it lead the true fleet market last month and its currently number one again this month. It launched in October so it’s really quarter two when it begins to gain traction. Insignia remains our jewel in the crown, because despite new competition it’s still outselling its two main rivals 2:1 in true fleet this year.

FN: Are you introducing, or have you recently introduced, any new initiatives for fleets?

JT: OnStar is the big key initiative, which comes as standard on new Astra (pictured). You have the safety benefit, so if you crash it automatically calls the car and checks you’re okay and if you don’t respond it sends an ambulance. I think that’s a really tangible benefit. Then you’ve got the driver diagnostics, with a fleet portal for fleet managers, which will tell you mileage and MPG, as well as whether there’s any faults in the car, and you get that free for five years. Then there are some driver benefits accessed through an app, such as vehicle locator and the ability to lock down the car if it is stolen. Finally you’ve got free wifi for 12 months, because it makes the car a wifi hotspot.

FN: What new fleet models are you due to launch this year?

JT: We’ve got a fantastic strategy for new Astra, which we launch tomorrow (June 17). It replicates our strategy for Insignia, with wholelife cost leadership in that segment, low list prices, very good on CO2 and very good on CAP RVs. We’ve just got to hope it resonates with the drivers, because ultimately to grow significantly people have got to choose the car. We’ve tried to make it as appealing as we possibly can in terms of specification and BIK.