Fleet is the area where Polestar is most active, as it accounts for 80% or thereabouts of the business that it does.
With its established Polestar 2 and the incoming Polestar 3, Volvo’s performance EV sister brand, has proved that it is an innovator by challenging the traditional direct to consumer model, and the digital first approach to ordering and sales.
However, as head of sales Matt Hawkins told us, the brand is still very conscious of just how well established and mature the fleet industry is in the UK. As such its fleet strategy maximises on innovation, whilst still working within the framework of the leasing companies, big fleet players, and everybody that’s associated with the supply chain.
Hawkins said: “We want to work with all these, and we need to be conscious of that and not try to disrupt the way they do business too much. So, our strategy has been focused on partnership and collaboration for leasing companies, making sure that when we’re talking to those major players in the UK fleet market, we don’t do anything that’s so radical that it’s going to create problems for them.
“We’re trying to create opportunities to make us easier to deal with and make them fundamentally want to come to us.”
So, we were told Polestar’s model is geared around working with these leasing companies, account managers, sales teams, and the people out there that already have relationships with fleets. By partnering, and working with them closely, Polestar can find out what their pain points are and find opportunities.
Hawkins continued: “The way that we do that, is by trying to maximise the ‘Spaces’ model. So, the whole way our retail proposition and the way our dealer model is set up – it’s all geared up around putting the focus strictly on to the customer and taking the focus away from the transaction. So, we’re flipping the traditional dealer model on its head.”
Polestar is very aware of the fleet customer today, considering the massive growth in salary sacrifice, which is fuelled by electric vehicles with so many companies setting the schemes up. Hawkins also acknowledges there is a huge amount of pressure on fleet managers, to bring back company car drivers who have been incentivised away from the traditional company car, into cash allowances, over the last few years.
He said: “It is important to get these drivers back into a company car because of the all the corporate and social responsibility and duty of care issues associated with grey fleet. Additionally, carbon reduction benefits and having those assets on the company fleet and demonstrating that these electric vehicles are showcasing that company’s commitment to reducing carbon.”
Hawkins told us Polestar as a brand is particularly conscious of these drivers and that they’re a retail customer by any other name.
He said: “They want to be able to go to look at a car, to drive a car, to ask questions about it – particularly when it’s their first electric vehicle. They want to be able to have an informal, casual conversation with someone who can answer all their questions about what it’s like to own an EV.
“How do I charge on the public network? What apps am I going to need? What do I need to think about when planning journeys? They get that from a Polestar Space, because we’re interested in what they’re interested in. Our staff in those Spaces are there to answer their questions and do it in an environment where we can showcase our product.”
Hawkins also told us they’re embracing systems like Leaselink, which are fundamental to the way that a lot of leasing companies work.
He said: “We’ve spent a lot of time over the last two-years developing the way we work with those systems, improving the processes, response times, and I don’t think there’s another automotive brand that’s made such a leap in terms of the improvements to the delivery of its service to the fleet industry. In the last 18-24 months, we’ve made a massive stride from where we were in 2021. We know we’ve still got a long way to go, but the things that we’ve done, have all been in collaboration with key leasing partners – so we know we’re moving things in the right direction.”
Hawkins explained that one of the core things that Polestar did halfway through last year, was to launch their own fleet portal. Any leasing or fleet company can place their own orders there digitally, in the same way a retail customer would. So, they don’t have to wait for quotations and responses from dealers. They can get lead times there and then, within the portal, they can also get access to the pre-configured stock that Polestar have that are available very, very quickly and place an order there and then.
Orders can all be tracked through the supply chain with lead times. Once they’re cars have been delivered, they can download all their invoices, delivery notes and all the things needed to make the administrative process work.
Hawkins explained: “It is key for us, and we’ve only delivered stage one so far! We have some huge plans for what we can do in the future, but that will all be done with our key leasing partners, because we want to make sure that whatever we build and deliver, works for them.”
According to Hawkins, it is all about organic growth – so don’t expect product forced into the market, although this organic growth should be considered alongside residual values and a remarketing strategy.
He said: “There is no point in supplying these cars to leasing companies, if at the end of three- and four-year contracts, the companies do not know what to do with them.
“We already have a remarketing manager in place, with a remarketing strategy that we’re developing – so as these cars come back, we already have a plan to bring them into their second life.
“That’s key to any brand’s growth strategy, with residual values a hot topic now. We’re mindful of that, and we don’t want to force product into the market.”
