Alex Han: switching sides, from thyssenkrupp to Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover is expanding its international fleet team to support the increasing success of both Jaguar and Land Rover brands in the corporate sales market place. Dennis Rachow was appointed Global Sales Manager for Jaguar Land Rover Fleet and Business. In the team he will have 6 International Account Managers, who are located in Germany, UK, France, BeNeLux and the US.
One of them is Chung-Uh Alex Han (pictured), formerly Strategic Buyer International Fleet at thyssenkrupp had been appointed to the position of International Account Manager for Jaguar Land Rover.
Will you be concentrating on a specific region?
Alex Han: As part of Jaguar Land Rover’s Global Fleet & Business team, I will support JLR’s International Fleet customers who are headquartered in German speaking countries. I shall be offering these customers a global proposition and will be the main point of contact for sales opportunities regarding any market.
As a team, we are continuing to grow our customer portfolio which we have built over the past 3 years. In fact, we are accelerating this process by further expanding our international team, a process that will be completed in the coming months. This will ensure that we have international account managers in the markets where the majority of our customers are based and it will also enable us to further improve the level of service that we provide our international customers.
Can the iconic Jaguar and Land Rover British brands appeal to German companies which have traditionally favoured their own premium brands?
Alex Han: Certainly! We have found that our distinctive products have huge appeal with our German customers. This is because they offer a fresh and highly desirable alternative to the established German premium brands. Our product portfolio not only covers a wide range of segments, but also offers products which are highly relevant to fleets through our competitive CO2 ratings and competitive TCO. With the introduction of our latest products - the Jaguar E-PACE SUV, and our new station wagon, the Jaguar XF Sport brake, the appeal of our range to fleet decision makers and drivers alike is set to increase further. The launch of the new Jaguar I-PACE, our first all-electric car, is highly anticipated and heralds the start of the ’electrification‘ of the Jaguar Land Rover range.
For the past six years you were on the customer side, as Strategic Buyer Fleet of thyssenkrupp. What did you learn about international fleet management at thyssenkrupp?
Alex Han: I took the position at thyssenkrupp because coming from a manufacturer (Volkswagen Group) I was intrigued to see what it was like on the customer side. The experience allowed me to find out whether some of the ideas we had on the OEM side could work on the client side and to also identify how client processes work. thyssenkrupp was a really good place to learn all this because they operate an unbundled lease model, managing fuel, tyres and accidents, etc by themselves. I learnt much about the various aspects of running a fleet and I believe that this experience will be very valuable in my interactions with our customers as I have performed their job and fully understand the issues.
What further developments do you see in international fleet management, on the supply or client side?
Alex Han: International fleet is continually evolving. For example, the future of diesel is a major point of debate at the moment and it will be interesting to see how this discussion develops. At Jaguar Land Rover we have developed a range of diesel engines that offer the latest technology providing a clean and effective choice for our customers.
Developing the charging infrastructure for plug-in hybrid and electric cars is another topic to be addressed and international fleet customers still have to deal with very different levels of infrastructure maturity between the countries. And of course the new international leasing regulations will impact on fleets and therefore on the supply side in general.
