Maserati's new SUV arriving next year is likely to boost fleet growth for the brand. Graeme Jenkins, national corporate manager for Maserati, spoke to Fleet News at Company Car in Action about the brand's strong performance and future models.

Fleet News: What are your expectations for 2015?

Graeme Jenkins: We're on track with our targets so far for 2015; in fleet we're aiming for 8-900 units, and we've delivered around 400 to date, so it's going well. We're experiencing new level of demand from conquest business.

Our job is to increase the awareness of our brand; we're a very small manufacturer so we have to get the message across that Ghibli particularly is very competitive, especially from a cost of ownership viewpoint. Fleets are very surprised and pleased with its suitability, and it's a cracking vehicle. 

We're very fortunate to have a vehicle that not only looks stunning but from a fleet perspective, at that top end of the market ticks all the boxes. The feedback we're getting is very positive, which is reassuring.

We won't be over-supporting the car, protecting the residual value is key. That's backed up by a remarketing plan that's now in place for when cars are coming off contract, and go back into the dealer network properly - that's a new marketplace for us.

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

GJ: We're seeing exciting times for our dealer network, and we're very proud of them. They're meeting some very high expectations from our customers. We now sit at 18 dealerships, across most major cities in the UK. We have a business model that says we'll probably go up to about 25 as a maximum. 

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

GJ: Ghibli is a year old, but it's still a new vehicle and early in its lifecycle. There are further models on the horizon, with the Levante SUV arriving next year, which will open up sales into a much larger segment, and increase our volumes accordingly.

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