AFTER 18 years with a leasing company, you would expect some of that experience to rub off on Iker Lazzari as he moves from vehicle funder to OEM.

And so it seems.

With a strong track record in Volkswagen Financial Services, Iker decided to leave the funding piece behind and head for the fleet challenge of Nissan.

So what valuable expertise will Iker be bringing to his new role as he plans fleet sales through the leasing companies?

“I think empathy is a useful experience I bring to my new role. I have sold financial services and all those years of experience have allowed me to accrue an understanding of service.

“That becomes more critical under current economic climate where everyone is under pressure and enables us to act faster with that degree of empathy and understanding as well.”

Its certainly a valuable trait that Iker plans to transfer to Nissan fleet’s relationship with leasing companies – an area that Nissan is taking more seriously with the appointment of Michael Stewart to the role of head of leasing, specialist fleet sales and rental.

“We want to grow the proportion of Nissan volume going through leasing companies,” explains Iker. “But we’re changing the way we operate around sales planning. We want to have sustainable volumes with leasing companies and agree that on an annual basis.

“We understand the importance of developing that relationship. Hence the appointment of Michael, it’s critical going forward.”

Iker says that approximately of 85% of Nissan true fleet sales are funded this way.

“How I would like to see our relationship with the leasing companies change is for us to be seen as more of a trusted partner. At the moment they don’t quite understand our service delivery and how we can help them.

“We will be introducing some leasing improvement plans to each of the leasecos – we’ve listened to their feedback and we’re acting on it. It’s different for each leaseco, but it’s important we deliver the right service for that particular company.

“We use Expert Eye to focus on the specific needs of leasecos. We could go out with a generic response. But what I believe is critical is listening to leasecos individually.”

By this Iker details items such as frequency of contact; confirming who the point of contact should be; making sure invoices and monies are correct; or handling in-life queries quickly.

“It’s about becoming more service-oriented towards our biggest customers as a whole,” says Iker.

There’s plenty for leasing companies to get their teeth into with Nissan. It’s not just the SUVs where the company has set the pace with the incredibly popular Qashqai – and who can remember how brave that genius decision was at the time? – but it’s how Nissan can also set the pace with EVs, especially with the launch of the next generation Leaf.

“So we’ve got years of experience with Leaf. We’ve sold the product globally so it has strong identity and ultimately where we move to now is a brand new product: 235 miles per charge – that will pacify a lot of range anxiety. Beyond that is the technologies of e-pedal and ProPilot safety features.

“When you combine that with the understanding leasing companies have of EVs, it drives a better price point for leasing rentals.”

And it seems that Leaf is going sporting, too, as Nissan shows a Nismo version of the Leaf at the Tokyo Motor Show. It appears Nissan wants to tap into the Nismo brand’s youth appeal through gaming and expand the brand’s appeal.

And who can’t say the appeal of a sporting EV wouldn’t be a great proposition? But the first priority for Iker is to get across the service proposition to leasecos.

“We want to be that trusted partner,” confirms Iker.