Hyundai announced a raft of detail changes to its model line-up in early December 2014, introducing the new Generation i20 coupe, revised i30 and i40 – all at the core of Hyundai’s European fleet range. European fleet sales and remarketing director Adrian Porter was also on hand to bring us up to date with the company’s European fleet business, and we started by asking him how he thought the revised models would impact Hyundai’s fleet business in 2015.

“The reduced CO2 emissions from i40 and i30 and the refreshed design of these key fleet vehicles will be very good for us,” he suggests, “One vehicle that I think will give us a new element is the new i20. The old i20 was very much seen as a value-for-money vehicle, but was not necessarily seen as a strong fleet contender. The new car is a more mature vehicle, it is slightly more spacious and we are positioning that in a way that we think will be extremely attractive to the large fleets.”

Porter joined Hyundai in January 2014 and is clear that Hyundai’s fleet profile in Europe was not as strong as it could have been when he joined the company. “One of the challenges I had coming into this role at the beginning of 2014 was that from a fleet perspective, Hyundai was relatively immature,” he says, “There was a big focus on the private sector and Hyundai recognised the importance of the fleet sector and that it needed to raise its game, so hence the creation of my position.”

Hyundai’s European volume was relatively static in 2014, “Final figures will be above 2013, but there won’t be any major growth,” continues Porter, “So it has given me the opportunity to develop a number of programmes to improve the qualitative process – the way we approach the market.

“One of those major elements ties in very much with our new approach to our dealer network. Improving the quality of our dealer network will be emphasised in our fleet business centres across Europe. We currently have 425 and will probably finish 2015 with around the same number. However, we are going to roll out a brand new training programme, with brand new key performance indicators for those business centres. We will be able to offer much higher service quality through training and infrastructure developments in order to support fleet customers, whether those are small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) or major leasing and rental companies.”

Hyundai will be focusing its fleet business across the whole fleet spectrum, “We have historically been very strong among SMEs,” Porter acknowledges, “We recognise that we have to improve the quality of our infrastructure to support them. Fleet business, like the retail business is becoming more sophisticated. Fleet customers are demanding a higher level of service and sophistication, including finance products, maintenance products and they generally expect a dealer to be a service point, a ‘One-Stop-Shop’, rather than just a place where you have your car serviced. So we will be rolling that out from the first quarter of 2015 to ensure that we meet that growing demand.”

The ‘Big Five’ fleet markets in Europe – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – are not surprisingly among the most important for Hyundai, “We grew quite significantly in the UK this year. Our approach to the market through our ‘White Label’ programme Hyundai Leasing was extremely successful, far exceeding our targets,” says Porter.

“In 2015, Germany is, I believe, the only fleet sector where forecasts are predicting there will be a slight decline.” This is being attributed to an overall change in buying processes, while the significant market growth in 2014 is expected to see a levelling off in the German fleet sector in 2015. “It will grow again in 2016 and 2017, but it also gives us the opportunity to improve the quality of our business and also our network in Germany and how we approach the fleet business here,” reckons Porter. Hyundai has its European head office at Frankfurt in Germany.

“In Italy, we have grown our ‘True Fleet’ or corporate volume by a significant 80-85% in 2014,” he adds, attributing this mostly to a change in how the company has done business in the country, both in how the market has been approached and how business has been carried out.

In Spain, the PIVE (Programa de Incentivos al Vehículo Eficiente) scrappage scheme has continued to stimulate retail car sales and the scheme, as PIVE 7, is being continued in 2015. The Spanish Government has allocated €175 million for the scheme this year. This will normally give €2,000 towards the cost of a new car, or €3,000 for families with more than three children. Half of each grant consists of a government subsidy while the remaining 50% is a manufacturer discount.

So much for the retail sector in Spain, has Porter seen a beneficial effect for the fleet sector too? “We have seen growth, not quite the level of growth we would like.” As he points out, the scrappage scheme means that manufacturers must choose how to allocate their resources to deliver the most sales, either by backing the scrappage scheme or backing other sales. “We have been focusing on our processes and our route to market. As we enter 2015, we are in a much stronger position to continue that growth.”

Hyundai has also experienced fleet growth outside the ‘Big Five’: “We’ve seen growth in Eastern European markets, the Czech Republic and Poland,” he says.

It seems that police forces have found Hyundai particularly attractive, “The number of police tenders we were requested to answer in 2014 was surprising for me,” explains Porter, “It seems that the police forces quite like our cars. We won some significant deals in 2014 and we are hoping to continue that.

“From my perspective, I want to encourage that kind of business. It gives us high visibility and also it is excellent from an aftersales point of view as well.” Porter says that the growth in police business has been across Europe. Markets with indigenous manufacturers do not provide many opportunities but otherwise he believes that Hyundai’s total cost of ownership proposition and reputation for reliability and durability has helped to win police business.

SUV fleet sales are also a growth area, “In 2014 alone, the fleet share of ix35 has grown by 37%, which was a surprise for us. Part of that is driven by a change in mind set from fleet purchasers. Where 4x4s and SUVs were previously prohibited, there’s now an opening up and now from a fuel point of view and the snowy winters and this kind of thing, there’s a higher level of acceptance.”