Volkswagen Financial Services has appointed Iker Lazzari as sales director, starting his role on 1 August.
Lazzari has rejoined VWFS after two years working as UK fleet director for Nissan Motor Manufacturing. Prior to that, Lazzari worked with Volkswagen for 14 years, most recently as head of fleet sales and marketing.
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Simon Tattersfield, chief commercial officer at VWFS, said: “Iker joins us at an exciting time; VWFS UK has an ambitious customer agenda and Iker will play a key role in helping to deliver it with our dealer partners.”
In March, VWFS posted its annual results for the financial year 2018, revealing a 6.2% increase in operating profit to reach a record €2.61bn (£2.23bn).
The company grew in almost all product categories over the course of 2018, driven by services such as maintenance and wear and tear and the fleet business in Europe. Volkswagen noted that activity in this area of the business is likely to grow as a result of the company’s participation in FleetLogistics.
The range of mobility services offered by VWFS is also being expanded by the acquisition of LogPay Financial Services and the related entry into the business of local public transport payment processing.
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By GlobalDataThe results also highlighted a slight decline in the portfolio of insurance contracts. The firm attributes this to the fact that the insurance contracts of Volkswagen Versicherungsdienst Vienna, Austria, no longer form part of the results for 2018. The company was sold to Porsche Bank AG, Austria.
Looking to the future, Lars Santelmann, chairman of the management board of VWFS, stated that the company is in the process of optimising its cost structure and digitalising its business model. “Our focus will be on efficiencies as well as sales. Volkswagen FS has set themselves a target of achieving cost-income ratio of 40% by the end of the year 2025,” he said.
