Lee Giddings, national fleet sales manager, Suzuki, details the brand’s big plans for the fleet business growth and electrification.

Lee Giddings, national fleet sales manager, Suzuki

Traditionally Suzuki hasn’t been hugely strong in fleet. So what’s changed?

Since I joined Suzuki, in 2017, we’ve gone from doing very little in fleet to delivering – in a ‘normal’ year – about 10,000 units across all fleet channels. We’ve probably come a lot further than many anticipated, in a short space of time.

I think the potential now is getting into the SME market and core end-user fleets. We’re working on a strategy plan to make that happen, which involves being more visible in the fleet market, by supporting events, for example.

What is that plan to reach more SMEs?

The main thing is a strong focus on an area that hasn’t been on our radar previously. We’re also working on a new CRM system, some detailed industry data and working with the leasing industry to help push the product.

If 10,000 fleet units is a good year, what’s the potential future target?

Our goal, as a brand, is 50,000 units a year across fleet and retail. In 2018, we touched on 40,000, but then everything scaled back and covid took over. We hope to be working on a 15,000-unit/year target in the future. It’s also a case of making sure that volume is in the right places. We can easily go out to a rental company and buy a market share, but that does us no good. We do extremely limited volume in terms of rental, anyway.

How is the business coping with the current supply issues?

This year is going to be massively affected, but we should see some normality back towards the end of the year, certainly going into Q1 2023. But, in terms of lead times, we’re in a positive position, compared with a lot of brands. We’ve always had such good lead times of two or three weeks, for example, on most models – and now we’re closer to three months. So sometimes, internally, it feels terrible. But if you look at some examples out there, we’re doing pretty well.

How have those lead times helped attract fleet customers?

What we’ve seen is a lot of opportunities come our way – opportunities that we probably weren’t receiving prior – obviously word has got out that our supply isn’t too badly affected. When that became common knowledge, we found a lot of end users we hadn’t spoken to before – including some big public sector fleets – are now suddenly engaged with us.

What are the most important Suzuki models for fleets?

We’ve got the biggest range we’ve ever had with the introduction of the Toyota-based products Swace and Across. We’ve also still got Vitara and Swift, but the S Cross has just been a revelation for us. It’s done far better than anyone thought it would and has become a really important car for for all channels.

We’ve tried to look at what models work well in each segment of fleet. So, for example, Ignis works very well in public sector salary sacrifice channels, but also Across is a fantastic product for that too.

What are the biggest challenges the company faces?

Initially, it’s the supply constraints – we are in a positive position, but it’s still not ideal for us. We’re having to manage things internally and also manage customer expectations. But hopefully by the end of this year, we’ll say goodbye to that problem. The next biggest challenge is electric because we don’t have a full EV at the moment, unlike most brands.

There aren’t that many small EVs – they do tend to be more premium and the volume is typically driven by Tesla. We have to make sure we just don’t lose any ground, because some fleets are already moving to electric only.

What EVs can we expect from Suzuki?

I don’t know for certain, because I’m only seeing full details of what is planned for Japan, but I would imagine a small one and maybe a mid-size EV to start with.

How else is Suzuki helping fleets?

The whole total cost of ownership element is a huge focus this year. We’ve just recruited for a cost of ownership analyst to join the brand to really emphasise that focus. It previously sat in an area where it probably didn’t get the attention it deserved, so we’re bolstering the numbers and resources there.

We’ve also revisited the Suzuki Business Partners. We had 30-40 dealers, – or key business partners – but the setup was a bit complicated. We’ve simplified that and now just call them direct sales partners. That helps because they can build better relationships with their customers and mutual customers in the leasing industry.

IN PROFILE

Number of models: 7

Best fleet seller: Vitara SZ-T 2WD

Total sales for 2021: 20,976 units (retail and fleet) – 5,906 units to fleet

Next model launch: Vitara hybrid (March 2022) and S-Cross Hybrid (late 2022).

FLEET FACT

Suzuki offers all the onboard technology you need as standard as well as highly fuel efficient powertrains.

Aims for the future

Develop further awareness of our brand with 100% hybrid availability as standard for the passenger car range. Demonstrate cost of ownership savings with hybrid adaptation.

Who’s Lee Giddings?

Before moving to Suzuki five years ago, Giddings spent 12 years at Toyota. The first decade of that time was spent in a variety of fleet roles, before moving to area fleet sales manager.

He joined Suzuki as manager of contract hire, leasing and motability, before taking up his current role of national fleet sales manager a year ago. Giddings says his main objective for the brand is to ensure Suzuki Business is the best fleet department in the industry to do business with.

Growing up in London, Giddings now lives with his wife, two children and bulldog puppy in Surrey. Away from the office, he enjoys most sports, particularly Formula 1.