Firstly, I ask Steve how fleet and corporate business has been for Peugeot over the last year.

Wass said: “I’ve been in the role since August 1, so it’s still relatively early days. I'd say if we look at the overall volumes that we've done this year, it's relatively comparable, with the exception of Motability.

“We made a conscious decision to reduce Motability volumes, so that's really the only channel that's seen any significant movement. We were effectively over-indexing by a significant margin, from a Motability point of view, because of the 3008 and 5008 – so we’ve brought that back down to more sensible levels, thinking forward for residual value as well.

“Retail is compensating for some of that Motability movement as well, but when we look at B2B, whether it’s through the network or the more corporate stuff, it's relatively stable. The National Daily Rental Channel looks up year to date, but it's purely the cadence of those volumes during the first part of the year.

“The decision that we’d rebalance Motability was made at the beginning of the year, so it was before those major changes for Motability came through in June. We definitely saw a bit of a spike in May and June, as customers were grabbing, if you like, the final vehicles on the deals before the Advance Payments were changed.

“It is more of a conscious balance with Motability. Actually, when I look at it now, the mixes that we're seeing on Motability are back to what I was used to when I was Sales and Marketing Director previously for the brand. So it's more about getting back to where we were, rather than conscious decisions to massively reduce down for other purposes, really.

“When the 3008 and 5008 first launched on the programme, they were enormously successful as well. So it's also about protecting those products as they go into their midlife period as well.”

We then move on to discuss which Peugeot model is proving most popular in corporate/fleet?

Wass said: “If we look at it from a total volume perspective across all the channels, the 2008 is the strongest-performing vehicle, then the 208, and then the 3008 and 5008 close behind it.

“If you were to look specifically at the corporate channels, then the 3008 and 5008 are obviously very strong. It is interesting that, on a monthly basis, the balance between the 3 and the 5 – they’re both really popular vehicles, and actually it's not that one is constantly outranking the other. You find that from month to month it can vary between the two as well.

“So, whilst they're based on the same platform and share a lot of similarities, they're attracting different types of customers because of their versatility. So, they're a great pair to have in that arena.

“The long-range EV version of the e-3008, which was introduced last year, was a game-changer for us in that segment as well. I personally drive that vehicle. I’ve not driven an ICE vehicle now for the last three or four company cars, and it's a phenomenal bit of kit, really. Having that long-range ability means that when I'm commuting down to London or the south coast for visits, I can get there and back again on one charge these days.”

Next I ask Steve what his current plans were with short cycle business?

Wass said: “As I said before, Daily Rental definitely peaked at the beginning of this year, and has definitely tailed off during the second part of the year.

“When I look at the budgeted volumes for next year, we're expecting growth in pretty much all of the B2B channels – but rental will be carefully controlled. I don't anticipate any growth in the rental channel; in fact, it may reduce again, depending on the model mixes that will be coming.

“Daily Rental still plays its part. I would say one of my top three focuses coming into this job is residual values, so making sure that we maintain the strong positions.

“It is so important for all the channels we do that – from retail through to B2B – to have that strong RV. Ultimately, that gives us a strong monthly payment on each of those vehicles.

“The short-cycle element is still part of that plan. Actually, I learned this from running our used vehicle division, that having a nice mixed portfolio of vehicles coming back, from stuff that's coming back after nine months through to three or four years, is actually a benefit when you're selling back to your dealer network.

“They don't want a used car lot full of all three-year-old vehicles; they want a nice mix. Being able to do that, and bringing daily rentals into that as well, is a huge benefit.”

My final question to Steve was to ask him if he could give me an idea of his fleet and corporate plans moving forward, despite only being in the role for a short time.

Wass said: “I’d say, first of all, it's building strong bonds with that team. It's a big B2B team within Stellantis. Tom Ray, the Director of that area, I know him very well. We kind of grew up through the company together. We've both come from a retail background as well.

“At the same time, I was running Robin and Day (now Stellantis & You) in Manchester, he was running Bristol. He's got huge experience in that area. I trust the strategy, and I trust the direction of travel that he's taken it.

“The first goal is really to get into the detail with that team. Work with Tom, work with his team in each of the areas, so we can understand how we can drive the business forward into 2027.”