In brief

Six in 10 fleet managers said their confidence in building around the fleet electrification, while only a quarter of respondents said they are ‘extremely confident’.

This is according to a survey from Alphabet (GB), which found that many fleet decision-makers still have concerns about acquiring electrified vehicles for their business, with cost (32%), charging infrastructure (22%) and driver reluctance (27%) as the main barriers to switch to EVs and PHEVs.

This lack of confidence in fleet electrification knowledge is reflected in the fact that more than half of fleet decision-makers (52%) have yet to make any updates to incorporate electrification into their company driver policies. For fleets of less than forty-seven vehicles, this rises to 63%. Even for bigger fleets of over two hundred vehicles, almost two in five managers still need to make updates.

Electrified vehicle sales have, however, continued to rise at a rapid pace, with the pandemic acting as a catalyst for the sector. Alphabet has seen a 248% increase in pure electric vehicle orders year-to-date compared to 2020, and a 174% rise in sales for plug-in hybrid vehicles in the same period.

David Rose, head of product at Alphabet (GB), said: “It’s been great to see the demand for electrified vehicles increase at such a rapid pace this last year and demonstrates a change in mindset taking place in both the industry and with consumers.”

Online car retailer Cazoo has launched its service in both France and Germany, less than two years after launching in the UK.

Cazoo owns and reconditions its cars before offering and delivering them to customers, with the entire process taking place online. Customers have access to high-quality, 360-degree images of the vehicle online, and the details of the car’s features and history. Each car comes with a full 7-day money back guarantee and a 12-month warranty.

Following its launch in both France and Germany today, Cazoo intends to grow its inventory to thousands of cars as it expands across Europe over the coming months as well as adding many new features to its EU proposition including buying cars directly from consumers, fully digital car financing and all-inclusive monthly car subscriptions.

Alex Chesterman, founder and chief executive of Cazoo, said: “We are very excited to have launched in both France and Germany today. We have reimagined car buying to make it simple and convenient whilst adding transparency and quality to give consumers total peace of mind when buying their next car.

“With Cazoo, you can purchase a used car entirely online, have it delivered to your door in a few days and have a week to make sure it fits your lifestyle. We have great teams in both France and Germany and look forward to expanding into further markets and delivering a new and best-in-class car buying experience to consumers across mainland Europe.”

Motor finance broker Evolution Funding has appointed Katie Hayes to its board of directors as chief operating officer.

Hayes joins Evolution from Lloyds Banking Group, where she was a member of the senior leadership team within the motor finance division. Positions held include head of Jaguar Land Rover Financial Services for Black Horse and Head of Partnership and Market Development.

Prior to this, Hayes was director of customer experience for Lex Autolease, where she was responsible for product development and compliance, customer journey optimisation, and customer engagement.

Hayes will assume responsibility for all partner and end consumer journeys in Evolution’s point of sale and direct to consumer channels. She will also lead on product and process improvement, compliance, and governance.

Lee Streets, chief executive of Evolution, said: “The creation of the COO role is a crucial step towards achieving our strategic goals, especially when it comes to delivering excellence in motor finance. Katie brings extensive experience of working both commercially and operationally with a number of key partners.

“In addition, the expertise and insight that Katie has gained working in a number of senior motor finance roles will be invaluable for Evolution’s progression and growth. We are delighted to welcome her to the business.”

V12 Vehicle Finance has created 10 new sales roles in 2021, including five internal promotions, to keep up with the demand for used cars and finance.

The number of employees at the Solihull-based vehicle finance provider now stands at 193. Alongside this, five internal promotions have taken place including the appointment of Ciara Raison as the company’s new commercial director, a promotion from her previous role as sales and marketing director within the motor department.

Raison is also a founding member of the Secure Trust Bank equality and diversity steering committee. As a result, the motor finance department now boasts 57% of women in its motor team and 59% in its sales team, outstripping the industry average.

Currently, women only represent 20% of the automotive industry’s workforce, dropping to less than 10% when looking at senior and executive levels.

David Nield, managing director at V12 Vehicle Finance, said: “As the demand for used cars continues to rise, we have taken the opportunity to further invest in our team and bolster the skills and services we can offer for dealers.”

Maserati has unveiled its ‘online to offline’ (OTO) retail project, integrating virtual and traditional experiences in the purchase process.

The project adds digital tools to support sales, closely working with dealerships to personalise the experience for customers. Customers will be able to personalise their journey, deciding which aspects of the transaction should be worked on in a showroom and which can be completed digitally.

Bernard Loire, chief commercial officer at Maserati, noted: “The focus at Maserati is always on the customer, continuing the brand’s history of innovation and tradition, quality and exclusivity. We have therefore revamped our sales processes to arrive at an evolution of the customer journey.

“The brand wants to meet and exceed the expectations of customers, who will now be able to take advantage of an omnichannel experience. We believe that this type of offer – utilising the Maserati Fuoriserie programme to customise our cars – is the right response to the wishes of the new luxury consumer”.

Online car sales platform Carzam has secured £112m in its first funding round, as the company prepares to scale and improve its offering.

Carzam expects revenues to be close to £150m for its first year of trading, equating to 13,500 sales of used cars through its website. The company launched in December 2020 and now employs more than 150 people.

Founders Peter Waddell and John Bailey are joined by a US-registered global institutional investment management firm with more than $37bn in assets under management as the lead investor in Carzam’s first external fundraising round.

John Bailey, who is former President of Cox Automotive, said: “This is a pivotal moment in Carzam’s history. To attract investment at this scale just months after our launch is a huge achievement and is recognition of our rapid growth.”

Carzam chief executive Kirk O’Callaghan will now lead the business. On the funding round, he said: “The appetite for investment in Carzam reflects the strength of its online car sales proposition. We continue to grow our customer and remarketing services in preparation to increase our unit numbers exponentially.

“The £112m will propel Carzam into its next chapter. The funding will support technology development, which is required to keep pace with consumer demand.”

Blue Motor Finance has completed a syndication of part of its existing £300m forward flow transaction to Standard Chartered Bank and funds managed by Schroders Capital.

This is the first transaction Blue has undertaken with Standard Chartered and Schroders Capital managed funds and continues Blue’s desire to both diversify and extend partnerships across its funding platform. It demonstrates continued confidence in Blue’s platform and business model from a broad range of blue chip funders and investors.

The transaction highlights Blue’s continuing commitment to developing its funding platform through long term relationships with a broad panel of financing partners.

Tiku Patel, chief executive of Blue Motor Finance, said: “We’re delighted that both Standard Chartered and Schroders Capital have come on board through this transaction to partner with Blue. We greatly value this opportunity to build relationships with two blue chip counterparts and we look forward to further developing these relationships for the longer term, as we move forward.

“Blue is growing strongly and, partnering with Standard Chartered and Schroders Capital shows continuing confidence in our business model, our credentials for carefully managing credit risk, and our ability to deliver continued predictable performance.”