Infiniti increases fleet team to be ‘serious’ premium sector player

Infiniti has appointed a new head of fleet and increased its fleet team’s overall headcount from two to eight as it targets growth in the corporate market.

Jonathan Reynolds will lead the team, having previously worked in fleet and retail sales at Mazda, reporting directly to country director Barry Beeston.

A new role, dedicated to looking after remarketing, residual values and service, maintenance and repair costs, will be held by Paul Grimsley, who previously worked at Skoda, Volks-wagen Financial Services and the Volkswagen Group. 

Grimsley will be responsible for regular inter-action with the key influencers in the UK and developing an enhanced remarketing strategy for the business.  

Infiniti is also recruiting regional managers for the north, south and the Midlands, and plans to then add two contract hire and leasing managers (north and south) to the existing fleet team. 

Beeston, who joined Infiniti from Nissan earlier this year (Fleet News, June 23) said: “One of the first things I wanted to do was embark on implementing a robust fleet team of specialists and also a robust structure. 

“It’s fundamental that we have specialists who understand the market and a dedicated team to cover the specific areas of fleet, giving potential customers the confidence to buy our product.” 

Beeston calls it a “plug-and-play” approach. “They come into the business, they have the contacts, they know how the industry works, so they can leverage effect quite quickly,” he said. 

“The structure of the team is going to match the marketplace so it’s important we have those defined roles within the team to be able to service the relevant inter-actions,” explained Beeston, who hopes to have the full team in place early in the new year. 

Business activity within Infiniti is running at a high pace. Sales for 2016 have already increased by 180% when compared to last year and year-to-date registrations reached 2,500 by the end of September.

Reynolds added: “I feel it is a key time for me to join Infiniti and head up its fleet department, just as the product range is starting to penetrate into several areas of the fleet marketplace. The company clearly has some strong ambitions to be a serious player in the premium fleet marketplace and I am pleased to be involved with this challenge.”       

Two key products joined the Infiniti range earlier this year, the Sunderland-built Q30 and QX30, which gave the brand a much needed opportunity in the growing crossover market.

Alongside these models is the brand’s ‘halo’ car, the Q60 sports coupe. Beeston is anticipating fleet interest in this model which features a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine but stated that the Q30, QX30 and Q50 D-segment saloon will be the most popular among fleets.

All three models were on display at Fleet Management Live, at the Birmingham NEC last month. Reynolds was on the stand at the event and commented that interest in the brand and its models was “very positive”.

For Beeston, exposure is core to his strategy: “There’s no real rocket science in terms of building the plan. It’s going to be quite straightforward. We’ll over-invest in demonstrators, hold awareness seminars and we’ll also increase our attendance at key industry events.”

Currently the majority of Infiniti’s fleet sales come from six leasing companies and both Beeston and Reynolds believe in a two-pronged approach to both increase leasing company support and target corporate customers directly.

“One thing that is critical with the fleet customer is the ability to service their cars in life,” explained Beeston. Therefore Infiniti is continuing to appoint dealers and authorised repairers, with a target of 25 before 2020.

“For me an authorised repairer strategy is critical and we are accelerating that to ensure fleet customers have a point of contact to maintain their cars during the life of ownership. We have 11 at the moment and are planning to have 18 appointed by the end of the fiscal year,” Beeston said.