Leaving an upwardly mobile manufacturer selling almost 30,000 cars into the true fleet market for one that registered just 6,000 last year isn’t the most discernible career move for an ambitious fleet director.
But for Justin Costello, it offered an appealing opportunity to oversee a wide – and widening – portfolio of brands.
As head of fleet at Renault Group, the former national fleet manager at Cupra and Seat is responsible for Renault cars and vans, Dacia and Alpine, the performance premium brand which is entering the UK next year.
And, while Renault’s solo true fleet car sales are a little underwhelming, at 6,078, when pooled across the group, true fleet last year actually nudged 27,000 (Nissan: 18,880; Dacia: 2,011). Renault vans added another 35,000 units to the mix.
Costello joined Renault just three months ago and his first impressions left him “excited” about the growth prospects in the fleet sector.
“There's a lot to do, but we have a sound foundation of customers and partnerships,” he told Fleet News in his first media interview.
“I’m excited to see that the driving dynamics and the interior specification and quality that I was used to from Renault five or 10 years ago is completely different today.”
Costello has been strengthening his fleet team with the appointment of a public sector manager, an aftersales manager and three virtual account managers which, he says, clearly illustrates Renault’s “commitment to the fleet market for the long-term”.
He added: “I could easily see us doubling our passenger car true fleet volumes over the next year to 18 months.”
The four brands give Renault an end-to-end fleet proposition from small value cars to premium to vans with a spread of fuel options from petrol to PHEV to full electric.
Dacia represents “exceptional value”, Costello said, pointing to the new Spring electric car which will be priced from £14,995 with sights set on the salary sacrifice sector.
Meanwhile, Renault is the “tech leader with style and safety” for cars, with its technology and styling also carrying across to the light commercial vehicles.
Alpine has sporting heritage and is the premium offering with “a real growth opportunity at the top end of that market”. Its first electric car will be launched in the UK in early 2025 with a second model due to follow later in the year.
“They are all clearly defined with clear pricing distinction and specification, which makes it easy and simple for the customer,” Costello said.
“We will be portfolio selling: one set of corporate account managers and leasing managers.”
An expanding range
Over the next 18 months, the Renault car range will expand from seven to 12 models, with a line-up of Renault 4, Renault 5, Scenic, Rafale, Symbioz, Megane, Clio, Captur, Arkana, Austral, Rafale, Trafic Passenger. Three of those (4, 5, Symbioz) are new introductions to the range, while alternative fuels, including full electric and plug-in hybrid, feature heavily.
That’s a key factor, as Renault Group looks set to miss the ZEV Mandate target for cars this year, which requires 22% of registrations to be full electric. At the end of May, it had sold 81,936 across the group, with 6,964 of those full electric – just 8.4%.
Surprisingly, the proportion within true fleet is much lower – just 2.4%, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Motability registrations pull the numbers up.
Vans are in a more secure position, with 7.4% (1,019) of the 13,710 registrations to date full electric, a whisker below the 10% target for 2024.
A significant fillip will arrive in the form of the full electric Master E-Tech with its WLTP promise of 285 miles, the best in class.
Orders open next month with first deliveries (L2H2 and L3H2 panel van and conversions) in September. Automatic and heavy-duty versions follow in November together with a crew van, while the L3H3 high roof version will come in Q1 2025.
Costello describes the Master E-Tech as a “breakthrough” with passenger car experience and “phenomenal” range.
“A combination of specification and the fact that, pricing-wise, we're not a million miles away from the medium sector vehicles, particularly on the electric, means we’ve got some ambitious volumes for Master,” he said.
“The range of customers is going to be really diverse, and we've had public sector, local authorities, housing associations, all of the major kind of large corporates.”
Renault offers off-the-shelf factory-fit conversions, for example, parcel delivery and workshop vehicles, as well as tailored solutions via its Qstomize programme.
While it’s not always a faster solution, it can help with capacity and gives Renault a different proposition to offer customers including single billing and an all-inclusive warranty.
‘Challenging’ ZEV Mandate
Costello concedes that meeting the ZEV Mandate will be “extremely challenging”, particularly on cars, but insists Renault’s goal “is to hit the target”.
“We are backloaded because of the calendarisation of our model launches, but we will have momentum for the second half of the year,” he said.
“To date in 2024, we’ve had the Megane, but it has now been joined by the Scenic, with the Renault 5, the Dacia Spring and Alpine A290coming in short order. There’s lots more product on the way to transform our offering, plus Rafale PHEV and of course our highly efficient E-Tech hybrid models.”
Arguably his biggest challenge will be to counter deep-rooted perceptions about the Renault brand by getting fleet decision-makers and company car drivers behind the wheel. Awareness is paramount in an increasingly crowded market with sharp-elbowed new entrants from China jostling for position.
Fleets can expect to be offered more demonstrators, while Renault Group made its presence felt at June’s Company Car In Action event by showcasing its full range, including a static display of the Master E-Tech.
It is also about building and maintaining relationships, an area where fleets have been openly critical of some manufacturers in recent months.
“That's one of the things that I've always learnt in fleet: develop relationships and do what you say you're going to do,” Costello said.
“Make sure you're seeing your customers in a way that works for them. So face-to-face is still a really important part of what we do. Be visible and be willing to have open conversations and engage with them.”
Bi-directional charging
Nissan has been a long-time advocate of vehicle to grid (also known as bi-directional) charging, which enables drivers to feed electricity back to the grid or to power their house when tariffs are high, charging up again during off-peak rates.
Adoption has been slow for a variety of reasons, but Renault will offer it on the Renault 5 and believes it does have a role to play, albeit as part of a more holistic approach to vehicle charging.
“Rather than having to have battery packs installed at home, you can essentially use the car as that battery infrastructure. It's a great proposition,” Costello said. “That’s something that in time will be seen as an additional area value.”
He added: “We have to dispel some myths about how you need to charge and when. It's not just about ‘what is the overall range of your vehicle and where does it fit within your fleet. It's more about how much should you charge, when do you need to charge?
“The key thing is the right vehicle, the right time to the right driver with the right education, the right support.”
Consequently, the type of conversations the fleet team is having with customers is evolving.
“It's much more consultative because the pace of change has never been faster and the ways of talking about technology can be really confusing for fleets,” Costello said.
He is visibly enthused by the move to Renault Group and the opportunity to manage a portfolio of brands across car and van. And he has a clear message for fleet decision-makers: “Renault is absolutely back. Dacia is in play. We've got some cracking product coming with Alpine.
“The priorities for me now are awareness, product launches and customer focus.”
