“They haven’t got a Fleet Manager, they haven’t got anyone to take care of the car, that has to take care of itself and we have to back that up with the right service at dealerships – our fleet charter does that. To make sure that when they need a service they can have a courtesy car, it can be booked in advanced and is very transparent, plus it’s good value for money. I think all of that is what small businesses are crying out for.
“I think i20 has been a game-changer for us, because we’ve now got a car that competes with Fiesta and Polo and in the SME sector, the main cars for us, have been ix35 and i40. The i40 is still as popular as it was when it was launched, the acid test for me is to see how busy our central demo fleet is and the i40 is busier than ever. The face-lift gives it another shot in the arm.
“Cars like the fuel cell do two things for us; firstly it’s a halo car and secondly, it tells customers that we have the right technology and we’re on the front foot and market leaders in fuel cell technology. It really does tell people a lot about the brand. Every conversation I have with the fleet buyers, CO2 is in the first couple of questions and on anybody’s priority list. We have to make sure we continue to drive down the CO2, like all manufacturers we need to do so. With every new product, every new face-lift that has to be continually driven down.
“Fuel cell I think in the medium term is the future for us and broadly speaking for the industry. The key for fuel cell is to have an infrastructure that catches up with the technology. The technology is there for us, with a 300 mile range that’s got to be the way we go, but the infrastructure has to catch up to where we need to get to.
“We’ve had interest from SMEs about the fuel cell and the only potential difficulties are with the refuelling infrastructure. The biggest compliment about that car is that drives like any other, apart from the fact that it’s silent like any other electric car, there are no issues with stowage space, and it’s exactly the same as any other ix35. So, the interest in that car is enormous, but the early adopters are public sector companies involved with hydrogen development and that’s where we’ve had our initial successes so far. Of course we need other manufacturers to come to market with fuel cell cars, because the more pressure for infrastructure will benefit everybody.
“There is definitely a desire to get the infrastructure in place whether it’s UK or European money; it’s just the timescale we’re worried about. We’re not talking about next year, or the year after, we’re talking a little way on from that; the fuel-cell car is going to adapt with a longer range and with more cars produced, the pricing will change too. There’s got to be an incentive to take this car. I would like to see a consistent message on incentivising, both private and business, for adopting that sort of technology. Every customer we speak to thinks that the car is fantastic, apart from the infrastructure, there is no downside.
