The role has been created as part of the company’s drive to grow market share in the corporate and SME fleet market.

One of Lazzari’s biggest tasks is to highlight all of Volkswagen Group Financial Services offerings to businesses, in particular its capability to provide fleet vehicles from all manufacturers, in addition to leveraging close relationships with Volkswagen Group brands. He will also be building awareness of the company’s non-asset based products and services, including telematics and fleet management solutions, fuel cards and employee focused schemes, such as salary sacrifice for cars.

Furthermore, he will be focusing on digitising the customer experience of all of Volkswagen Financial Services offerings, so that customers can procure and manage fleets and monitor drivers on efficient online platforms.

“The business already has all the fundamental elements and offerings needed for it to become the major player in the fleet market,” said Lazzari. “What we now need to do is make sure both our existing customers and prospects realise the real breadth and depth of our portfolio and the benefits they can get from procuring fleet solutions from one source.”

He added: “As part of my role I will also be pushing for continuous product development and new product offerings so that we also become the leader in innovation, compliance and choice.  We’ve grown strongly in recent years and have exciting plans to build on that growth by further developing the team and our proposition.”

Lazzari has over 18 years’ experience working within the Volkswagen Group, including senior positions such as market development manager, national contract hire & leasing manager for Volkswagen Passenger Cars and most recently operational strategy manager for Group Fleet Services, where he was responsible for delivering key strategic projects at group level. He was also instrumental in the re-organisation of Volkswagen Group’s fleet services division, where he consolidated operational activities and helped it grow within the corporate sector.

Ian Tilbrook, fleet director at Volkswagen Financial Services, said: “Iker has an exceptional background. Not only does he come with knowledge of the business and its customers, but also of the industry. He will be a valuable asset to the team, contributing to both the strategic and innovatory development of the business.”