Had we published the Power List a few weeks ago it would have looked a little different to the one we’ve ended up with.
That’s because back then we didn’t have the Volkswagen emissions scandal, which popped up late in proceedings to potentially have a much wider impact on the industry than simply affecting the financial status of one car manufacturer, to take into consideration.
The scandal has subsequently disrupted what had been a pretty stable top end of the table, on the presumption that the actions of Volkswagen engineers cheating American emissions tests will have some far-reaching consequences.
We have 10 new entries in the top 50 for our 10th edition of the Power List, and only one person has managed the considerable achievement of appearing in every line-up, dating back to the first one in September 2006.
I won’t spoil the surprise, but he’ll be embarrassed to see we’ve mentioned it in his countdown profile. That first list was topped by Gordon Brown, with Lex Vehicle Leasing boss Jon Walden and Autolease managing director Nigel Stead behind him, years before the merger between the two firms created the UK’s leasing giant. Others of note in that first Power List were George Bush at position 21, Mervyn King at 41 and Ken Livingstone at 44.
This rundown is our verdict on who has the greatest influence in the vibrant and challenging fleet sector, and is based on our expertise and experience, backed up by some hard numbers. Let us know at editorial@businesscar.co.uk if you agree, or if you don’t.
50 – Steve Catlin (New entry)
Volkswagen – Group fleet boss
Catlin took over in July from legendary fleet figure Vince Kinner following the latter’s retirement, and his role is designed to maximise fleet efficiencies across the five group brands: Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda and VW Commercial Vehicles. However, the former Vauxhall man may also have some work to do on restoring the brands’ reputations in the wake of the emissions scandal.
49 – Gina McCarthy (new entry)
US Environmental Protection Agency – Administrator
Obama-appointed McCarthy heads-up the agency that first brought the Volkswagen emissions deception to light, so her influence has the ability to be long felt in the automotive industry, let alone the fleet market. The EPA made public its discovery that the car manufacturer was deliberately cheating US emissions tests, and started the whole chain of events that is still a long way from reaching a conclusion.
48 – Jane Urquhart (Down one)
Nottingham City Council – Portfolio holder for transport and planning
Urquhart is the figurehead for Nottingham’s controversial Workplace Parking Levy, which currently costs £375 per space per year for local businesses with more than 10 employee parking spots.
47 – Keith Allen (Down two)
ARI Fleet – Managing director
A ninth appearance on the BusinessCar Power List for former ALD Automotive boss Allen, who heads up the UK fleet management operation of worldwide giant ARI.
46 – David Martell (New entry)
Chargemaster – Managing director
Chargemaster has been busy in recent times. In July, the electric vehicle recharging network confirmed it would be adding another 2000 charge points to the 4000 it operates, including replacing some that don’t work, while around 600 will be placed in the likes of hotels, supermarkets and health clubs. The firm also acquired installer GB Electrical in July, and in the same month took on managing the Plugged-In Midlands charging network.
45 – Nina Bell (New entry)
Avis-Budget Group – Managing director, northern region
Bell replaced Mark Servididio as UK boss, a role that also gives her responsibility for Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Servididio moved to a European position, and Bell steps up to the top UK job after 12 years of experience with the company.
44 – Lance Bradley (Up two)
Mitsubishi – Managing director
Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi enjoyed a 227.8% increase in sales last year thanks to the popularity of its Outlander plug-in hybrid, which is the biggest-selling plug-in vehicle in the UK. That gives Bradley and his company a level of authority in the UK automotive sector that it hasn’t experienced before.
43 – Michiel van Ratingen (Down two)
Euro NCAP – Secretary general
Continued tightening of the criteria for the fabled five-star Euro NCAP crash test results has led to features such as autonomous emergency braking becoming more commonplace.
42 – Violeta Bulc (New entry)
European Commission – Commissioner for transport
The Volkswagen emissions scandal has set the EC’s agenda very much in the direction of ensuring tougher and more real-world emissions testing comes through in 2017, and Slovenian Bulc’s responsibilities include reducing greenhouse gases in the transport sector.
41 – Dave Bowen (Up one)
BT Fleet – Managing director
Growth of around 1500 vehicles took BT Fleet’s total over 30,000 last year, and the firm continues to be a leader in the van leasing market.
40 – Neil Broad (No change)
Toyota/Lexus – General manager, fleet services
Premium brand Lexus grew by a third and Toyota was up by more than 20% last year, the latter just outside the list of the top 10 fleet brands and looking for growth with the revised core Auris and Avensis models. Toyota is also about to set off down the hydrogen path with the Mirai fuel-cell model.
39 – Martin Wilson (No change)
Hyundai – Fleet director
Hyundai is now an established top 10 fleet player, and the Korean company has also been blazing a trail by pioneering hydrogen technology, becoming the first brand to launch a fuel-cell car into the UK marketplace.
38 – Bob Middleton (Down one)
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services – Managing director
There has been a change of name from Daimler Financial Services, but Middleton remains at the helm and is likely to be presiding over a top 10 leasing company once Arval’s acquisition of GE Capital is complete.
37 – Bob Contreras (Down two)
Northgate – Chief executive
Contreras is the top man at the UK’s largest van hire operation, which has almost 100,000 vehicles on its books. Northgate recorded a 41.0% jump in pre-tax profits this year to £85.0m, equating to an increase of £24.7m.
36 – Spencer Lock (New entry)
BCA – Group managing director
Lock took over from Jon Olsen as the boss of multiple BusinessCar Award-winning remarketing giant BCA in the wake of the company’s £1.2bn acquisition by Haversham Holdings, having
worked for the firm since 2012 as managing director before taking on his new group MD role. Prior to that, Lock worked for car sales operation Inchcape in the UK as well as Australia, and has also previously worked for Nissan and Ford.
35 – Phil Price (Down two)
IDS Topcalc – Residual values forecasting editor
IDS provides whole-life costs data to the industry and Price is the key manufacturer liaison contact for the UK arm of the huge, US-based company that operates in 34 countries.
34 – Paul Hollick (New entry)
Institute of Car Fleet Management – Chairman
Hollick, commercial director of The Miles Consultancy, was appointed chairman of the Institute of Car Fleet Management last November. He replaced previous long-term incumbent Roddy Graham, who stepped down when he left Leasedrive after its acquisition by Hg Capital.
33 – Peter Lambert (Up two)
Kwik-fit – Fleet director
Lambert continues to head the fleet operation for the dominant fast-fit organisation, which has been looking to increase its LCV and fleet servicing business in its newly refurbished network of centres.
32 – Jon Lawes (New entry)
Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions – Managing director
Lawes stepped up to run Hitachi’s UK leasing operation in April, replacing Simon Oliphant, who now heads a new strategy office set up by the parent firm. Lawes previously ran Hitachi’s commercial vehicle business, having joined the firm in 2001. The leasing company maintained its place in the top 10 leasing companies last year, despite a 3500 drop in vehicles on its books.
31 – David Cooper (New entry)
Arnold Clark Finance – Director
Cooper stepped up to lead the leasing arm of huge Scottish dealer group Arnold Clark following the tragic death of Hugh Wallace, who had worked for the company for more than 40 years. Arnold Clark sat in eighth place among leasing firms in the most recent BusinessCar BC50 rundown of UK leasing companies.
30 – Tim Buchan (Down two)
Zenith Leasedrive – Managing director
Buchan leads the combined forces of Leasedrive and Zenith after they were both acquired by Hg Capital.
29 – Mike Williams (Up seven)
HM Treasury – Director, business and international tax
The business car market, through BIK and VED in particular, appears to be a revenue target for the Treasury and Williams is in a position to be advising the chancellor on his next moves.
28 – Oliver Morley (Down three)
DVLA – Chief executive
Morley has overseen the abolition of the paper driving licence counterpart, while the DVLA has responded to industry calls for a longer period on the web-based licence check system by extending the validity of the online code from 72 hours to 21 days.
27 – Nick Andrews (Up four)
Mercedes-Benz – Fleet sales and remarketing director
Merc continues to make headway in its ambition to be the UK’s biggest-selling premium brand, passing Peugeot to break into the overall top six last year thanks to a 14.1% increase in fleet sales. That puts it directly behind BMW and Audi.
26 – Ken McCall (Down two)
Europcar – Managing director
It was another busy year for Europcar, which secured £425m of funding for its 50,000-vehicle fleet in the spring. It revealed a new car hire app, created a fleet of Chapter 8-compliant rental vehicles and launched five specialist fleet van rental centres.
25 – Adrian Bewley (Down two)
Enterprise – Director of business rental
The nine-time BusinessCar Award-winning daily rental firm acquired car share firm City Car Club and van rental specialist Burnt Tree this year. Bewley continues to head the element of the business that specialises in the fleet, public sector and corporate areas, as well as travel advice and grey fleet.
24 – Barry Beeston (Up two)
Nissan – Corporate sales director
Nissan moved up a place in the fleet sales chart to number seven last year, passing Peugeot thanks, at least in part, to a raft of new product, including the second-generation Qashqai, while the company continues to be a pioneer of electric vehicles with the Leaf and e-NV200 models.
23 – Peter Bridgen (Down three)
Fleetcor UK – Managing director, fuel cards
Bridgen is in the process of adding new products and initiatives for the UK’s dominant fuel card brand Allstar, which is launching an innovative new Allstar One card and rolling out chip-and-pin technology to its 1.1 million cards active in the UK.
22 – Alistair Dougans (No change)
HM Revenue & Customs – Policy advisor
The Government’s increased focus on increasing income from company car benefit-in-kind means HMRC’s influence on the decision-making process around fleets is growing.
21 – Graham Wheeler (Down three)
VW Financial Services – Managing director
VW’s leasing arm enjoyed significant growth last year as it seeks to promote its status as a multi-marque business, rather than one that just deals in VW Group brands. The firm also opened its new Milton Keynes HQ earlier this year.
20 – Michael Hawes (Up 23)
Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders – Chief executive
The pressure on the motor industry to state its case has never been higher, with diesel fuel attracting plenty of negative headlines this year even before the VW emissions scandal added to the problems. It’s Hawes’s job to speak up on behalf of car makers and the industry to ensure the messages are accurate and give fleets, consumers and legislators the right level of knowledge when making long-term decisions that will affect drivers financially and environmentally.
19 – Mel Dawson (Down four)
ALD Automotive – Managing director
ALD has been quietly going about its business this year, and added another 10,000 units to its books at the last count, keeping it just in front of Arval – until its rival completes the purchase of GE Capital’s fleet book.
18 – James Douglas (Down one)
Audi – Fleet sales directo
It will be a busy time for Audi over the next few months, with the long-awaited launch of the new A4. Douglas oversaw Audi passing premium arch-rival BMW to grab fourth place in the fleet sales chart last year, although BMW fleet boss Matt Bristow can also call on Mini registrations, hence his higher placing in our Power List.
17 – Matt Bristow (Down four)
BMW – General manager, corporate sales
A slight drop in BMW’s fleet registrations in a market on the up last year are partly to blame for Bristow sliding a few places this year. The revised 3-series is currently arriving on UK shores, while the next big news will be the all-new 7-series and Mini’s new Clubman.
16 – Boris Johnson (Up two)
London – Mayor
At a time where the spotlight is on diesel emissions like never before, Boris’s plans for a low-emissions zone in London, coming in 2020, make him look a pioneer.
15 – Martin Gurney (Up six)
Peugeot Citroen Automobiles – Director fleet & used vehicle operation
In PSA’s restructure late last year, Gurney took on responsibility for all Citroen and DS fleet sales, as well as Peugeot, bumping him up our list. He replaced the Paris-bound Phil Robson as Peugeot fleet boss in late 2013, and will oversee the fleet element of PSA’s attempt to spin-off the DS brand as a separate premium entity.
14 – Denis Keenan (Down two)
KeeResources – Chief executive
Keenan has been at the top of industry whole-life cost and data supplier KeeResources, home of KwikCarcost, for nearly 16 years, and the firm continues to grow in terms of influence in the world of total-cost-of-ownership data.
13 – Michael O’Shea (Down two)
Volkswagen – Head of fleet
Until that little emissions-related issue kicked off in the US, things were going well for VW, which recorded a 9.1% increase in fleet registrations last year to cement its third spot in the sales chart. This year, it has added the new Passat and a number of new variants, while the new Tiguan was top of BusinessCar’s list of new business models revealed at the recent Frankfurt motor show.
12 – Ed Hummel (Down two)
Glass’s – Managing director
Hummel has overseen the launch of GlassForecast, the company’s valuation tool, which sees it make a renewed challenge to Cap’s position in terms of future values. Glass’s is also looking to become more transparent in terms of how it arrives at its values, and is keen to open dialogue with the industry.
11 – Martin Ward (Down two)
Cap – Manufacturer relations manager
Seen as the number one influencer by manufacturers in terms of residual value predictions, Ward is the only person to have appeared in every single BusinessCar Power List over the past decade, illustrating the breadth of his experience.
10 – John Pryor (Down three)
Association of Car Fleet Operators – Chairman
It’s been a successful first full year in charge of the
fleet operators’ association for the Arcadia Group man, who oversaw the recent ‘A day at the taxes’ seminar session. The association continues to lobby both behind the scenes and publically on behalf of business car operators.
9 – Gerry Keaney (Down one)
British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association – Chief executive
The top man at the BVRLA has been in place for two and a half years, and the organisation is making increasing noise around the issues affecting its rental and leasing company members. The association claims membership is at a record high.
8 – James Taylor (Down two)
Vauxhall – Fleet sales director
It’s a crucial period for Vauxhall, with the all-new and much-improved Astra hitting the market now, and the company will be looking for a sales boost from its biggest-selling fleet model, which was fourth overall in fleet registration terms last year. Vauxhall recorded a 2.6% fall in fleet volumes last year as it moved away from less-profitable business to improve residual values, but is still secure in second place in the UK business car market.
7 – Richard Schooling (Down two)
Alphabet GB – Chief executive
It’s been another year of good growth for what is currently, until Arval completes the acquisition of GE Capital’s European business, the UK’s number three leasing company. The firm has strengthened its broker, car-sharing and e-mobility operations this year.
6 – Matt Dyer (Down two)
Leaseplan UK – Managing director
Dyer has nearly 18 months under his belt leading the UK’s current number two leasing company, and it’ll be close between Leaseplan and Arval as to who will sit behind Lex Autolease once Arval takes on GE Capital’s numbers late this year. Leaseplan itself, which claims to be the world’s biggest fleet management and driver mobility company, was acquired in July, with Volkswagen and a German investment banker selling their shares to a consortium of Dutch and Danish investors for £2.6bn.
5 – Nick Themistocleous (New entry)
Ford – Director, fleet operations
Taking over from Phil Hollins, who moved to a European LCV role, at the beginning of this year, Themistocleous came into fleet from his previous sales district manager job just as the new Mondeo and facelifted Focus were hitting the market. His busy year hasn’t let up with the facelifted C-max and new S-max and Galaxy all having hit the market this summer. A quieter 2016 should allow him to take stock, with the UK’s biggest fleet brand focused on niche products such as the Edge SUV and new Mustang next year.
4 – Benoit Dilly (Up 10)
Arval UK – Chief executive
It’s a jump into the even bigger time for Arval, with the deal to acquire GE Capital’s European fleet management arm set to go through by the end of 2015. That will add 160,000 units to Arval across the continent, including around 47,500 here, which could put the BNP Paribas-owned firm second in the UK.
3 – Tim Porter (Down one)
Lex Autolease – Managing director
The UK’s dominant leasing firm continued to grow its enormous fleet during 2015, passing the 300,000 mark – more than double the size of any rival. And Porter is targeting 400,000 by 2018, which would be around the same current figure as the next three leasing firms combined.
Growth of 2-3% across all the regular channels will account for part of the new 100,000 units, but commercial vehicles, SME activity, more investment in digital activity, and two new initiatives aimed at so-called mega fleets and those with service-level agreements around response times – dubbed business critical – will also play a key role.
2 – George Osborne (Down one)
Government – Chancellor
From an aggressive tightening of the BIK bands in the April Budget to a complete and controversial reworking of the VED system, automotive taxes seem to be in the Government’s cross hairs as it seeks to address the country’s financial issues.
The BIK issue in particular could alter the fleet landscape, as the chancellor has opted not to shift the lower bands, giving fleet drivers almost no opportunity to move downwards and mitigate their tax payments. Combine that with the rate of increase in percentages paid to the taxman, as most bands move by three percentage points a year in April 2019, and you have a nation of company car drivers staring down the barrel of big hikes in their monthly payments to the Treasury.
It will also be interesting and of great significance to the industry to see what happens with fuel duty, if and when pump prices start climbing again.
1 – Patrick McLoughlin (Up 15)
Government – Transport secretary
Even before the small matter of the Volkswagen scandal and the renewed spotlight it has cast on vehicle emissions and the testing system, McLoughlin was set to rise up our list of importance thanks to the level of investment announced in transport infrastructure over the coming years.
A £6bn pot, to deal with local road maintenance and improvement between 2015-21, was revealed late last year as part of a £15bn investment in 100 new road schemes, the specifics of which are now being released under the Road Investment Strategy plan.
The DfT is also investing £6.6m in improving the hydrogen infrastructure as the first cars begin to appear on UK roads, £1m in new car clubs across 15 projects, and £100m in the development of driverless cars.
Looking ahead, the changes to the plug-in car grant that are expected in the next six months could shape the way electric and plug-in hybrid cars are adopted over the next few years, with a stepped system expected where full electric models get a larger share than plug-ins. All this and we haven’t even mentioned the HS2 high-speed rail link.
But the response to the VW emissions scandal will be a critical moment for the entire industry. How and when a more ‘real-world’ test cycle is adopted is of crucial significance, and will to some extent define the next generation of motoring taxes and vehicle manufacturer development priorities. It’ll need to be well-signposted and introduced with sensitivity to avoid any massive overnight impact on new or used buying decisions and the huge residual value knock-on effect.
Time will tell if that actually happens, but it’s certain that McLoughlin, now more than three years into the job, which is a rarity for a transport secretary, has a far-reaching and almost unprecedented influence on the UK automotive and therefore the business car sector.
