Omoda and Jaecoo’s head of fleet, Chris Clayton tells Alex Grant how the new UK arm of the Chery-owned operation intends to make inroads in a competitive market.

Omoda and Jaecoo’s head of fleet, Chris Clayton

Where do you see the biggest opportunities in fleet for Omoda and Jaecoo?

Due to Omoda’s competitive pricing, paired with exceptional technology and safety systems, we are able to attract customers at both the 40% and 20% tax bandings. The 20% tax band opens our E5 Noble up to a large portion of employees who historically have very little choice in the EV market – and we are seeing a great sales run-rate increasing month on month. For Jaecoo, the 7 SHS (Super Hybrid System) is performing above all expectations in a multitude of fleet channels. This scenario is, again, due to the clear value for money over competitor models, the available driving range and because it works from both a BiK standpoint and for those beginning or revisiting their emission reduction journey.

What do you see as your USP in fleet?

Omoda&Jaecoo UK wants to give customers the quality, safety, design and technology that they would find with a premium traditional brand, but with far higher value for money. As a new dual brand, we need businesses and drivers to test our cars. We have an extensive demonstrator fleet and leverage our relationships with key sales partners, funders and our dealer network to assist in getting our cars in front of the right people.

Each of the models in the Omoda and Jaecoo brands is finding its place in fleet. Our ICE product is well suited to PCH, rental and SME, while our Omoda E5 is seeing double-digit monthly growth in the corporate, salary sacrifice and public sector channels.

How have you engaged with the industry so far, and what are they telling you they want from a new brand? How are you addressing common concerns?

We are using the benefit of hindsight to aid our ambitious growth. Whether that be partnering with Thatcham to ensure our customers receive wallet-friendly insurance premiums or working closely with CAP to drive strong residuals in both brands models. We have also partnered with DHL to ensure overnight parts delivery and have a well-stocked parts distribution warehouse near Peterborough.

However, the biggest factor is our franchised dealer network – we now have over 70 dealers across the UK offering both sales and aftersales. These businesses have been operating for decades and have the trust of not only consumers but also longstanding partnerships with funders and other key sales partners.

What infrastructure are you putting in place to support this – what does your fleet team look like, centrally and with dealers?

Last year was all about fleet building a foundation for strong future sales. We developed a white label partnership with Arval for our dealer contract hire and ensured both of our brands were live on all quotation systems with the UK leasing companies.

This year is about growth for both brand awareness and fleet sales. Our fleet team has grown from four to 10 people – and will be deploying different strategies to each fleet channel to support our ambitions. The dealer network is dual brand and so is our fleet team. We now have a variety of different models and powertrains through Omoda and Jaecoo, and have further models to launch throughout the remainder of 2025.

Given recent and incoming changes to PHEV taxation (BiK in 2028, VED this year, and also the influence of EU6e-bis on PHEV CO2) have you changed your fleet strategy at all?

The low emissions of our SHS and the attractive P11D values of the vehicle mean that we are expecting it to continue to be a popular fleet proposition. We are expecting 2025 to be a year of sales growth in both fleet and retail for both brands, but of course, we will continue to ensure we offer an attractive proposition to both sectors.