Volvo is expanding its fleet team as the manufacturer acknowledges the increasing importance of corporate business to the Swedish brand.
“The business has taken on board that fleet is a major contributor and made extra resources available,” Volvo’s national corporate strategy & development manger John Wallace told BusinessCar. “Fleet and its importance within Volvo Car UK has never been more recognised. We’re constantly looking at what we need to do and we’ve a higher headcount than we had a year ago.”
Wallace’s job title is a new one, giving him “less breadth of area but more depth of those I do have”, compared to his former corporate sales and leasing role. “I’ll be working with key enablers in the fleet market – leasing companies, costs guides and daily rental firms, to make sure we have maximum benefit,” he said. “I’m looking to make sure we’ve got everything covered.”
The fleet team also has two new senior appointments. Graeme Oswald has been promoted to public sector and strategic partnership manager, while James Shires moves across from the dealer operations team to become national corporate sales operations manager.
Oswald’s role is interesting as Wallace has pinpointed the public sector as a potential growth area for Volvo. Oswald will be “on the ground to potentialise the opportunities”, said Wallace. That means working with the Office for Government Commerce, as well as leasing companies’ own public sector teams and Motability. Volvo’s share of the public sector sales doubled in 2009, and the firm feels there is more volume to be had. Shires’ responsibilities will lie with the end user fleet companies and dealer business centres.
