An interview with Alphabet’s Matt Sutherland
Matt Sutherland has been Chief Operation Officer with multi-marque fleet funders Alphabet since May 2011, after working his way up the ladder as an Account Manager for four years and Head of Vehicle Operations for two years. He is responsible for Alphabet’s operational performance and service delivery as well as customer services, supplier management and purchasing, maintenance, vehicle administration, internal car schemes, daily rental services, and vehicle logistics and remarketing.
FleetDirectory.co.uk: A broad one to start with, what do you consider to be the biggest challenges facing fleet managers today? If you had one single piece of advice for them, what would it be?
Matt: Two of the biggest challenges are keeping costs under control and the sheer complexity of managing all the products and services needed to run a fleet these days.
My advice to managers would be ‘don’t sweat over the small stuff’ – it’s all about the bigger picture and managing changes strategically. Find a fleet management provider that understands your business: as well taking away the burden of run-of-the-mill activities, they can use their leverage to minimise costs throughout your supply chain.
FD: According to the SMMT’s new car registrations, fleet registrations would appear to be on the increase so far in 2011. Are you experiencing strong demand and what are your predictions for the rest of the year?
Matt: Our order book has bucked the market trend and remained consistently strong all the way through the recession through to the present day. I’m with the physicist Niels Bohr when it comes to predictions: he said they’re very difficult to make, especially about the future! I think the SMMT’s projection for a total new-car market of 1.93 million units in 2011 is about right.
FD: The shoddy state which some fleet drivers allow their company car sink to was highlighted recently (link). Do you feel the privilege and status of having a company car has been devalued?
Matt: Not at all. A fully expensed car is still a highly valued perk, especially in these days of stubbornly high inflation.
FD: Where do you stand on increasing the speed limit on British motorways? Do you view it as a measure of common sense that would in turn aid the economy or an unwise move that would give boy racers and petrolheads a new target?
Matt: From a fleet perspective, if they raised the limit to 80mph, drivers could legally go 12% faster but they’d also use 20% more fuel. Businesses wouldn’t be looking at much of a cost-benefit there.
A higher limit wouldn’t reduce congestion either, so there isn’t really an economic case for raising it. Nor is there a strong road safety case against raising it, since European studies show no correlation at all between different countries’ speed limits and their motorway accident rates.
There seems to be a de facto 80mph limit on UK motorways these days anyway. You have to be going a lot faster to really risk being pulled over. To the extent that formalising 80mph would remove the threat of getting three points, I’m in favour of it. But none of the arguments for or against a change seem particularly strong.
FD: The Highways Agency recently amended its potholes policy so any instances of potholes on motorways than less than 4cm deep or 15cm wide won’t be considered urgent. Do you believe the British Government is doing enough to control the issue of potholes ahead of another potentially harsh winter?
Matt: The Government should certainly look at ring-fencing more of the tax collected from road users and putting it back into transport. Local roads are worst affected by potholes, so the Government needs to make sure that councils can quickly get extra money for repairs if they need it.
As for motorways, I suspect that a two-inch deep pothole on a busy stretch of motorway won’t remain ‘non-urgent’ for very long!
FD: Do you believe EVs are a valid option to fleets at present? If not, what needs to happen to change that? Can you see a future where EVs have managed to turn the table on conventional models and dominate the lion’s share of fleets?
Matt: That’s a big question! EVs can currently fulfil one or two niche roles but they’re not cut out for normal fleet use yet. What needs to change? Lower up-front prices, predictable residual values, better range, and many thousands more public charging points.
In future, virtually all new cars will use electric (or perhaps hydrogen) power – probably by the middle of the century. But by then current modes of fleet operation, which are based on the characteristics of conventional, cars will be replaced by new concepts of corporate mobility
FD: Do you feel car manufacturers are pulling their weight in helping fleet operators limit overheads i.e. more economical mpg, cleaner emissions?
Matt: I’d say they are doing more than their share of the heavy lifting. In fact, they deserve a lot of the credit for the 20% drop in average fleet CO2 over the last five years.
They’ve brought out hundreds of fuel-efficient products that drivers are happy to have, thanks to low BIK and low fuel consumption. Low CO2 cars usually win-out on Whole Life Costs too, so fleet operators have benefited as well.
If you look at Alphabet’s fleet, the average CO2 emissions of new cars we’ve ordered this year are 134g/km. That’s 25% less than in 2006, which virtually cancels-out the real increase in fuel prices since then.
FD: Some lighter questions to wind things up, what was your first car?
Matt: Renault 5 [pictured right]
What is your ideal driving soundtrack?
I’m not particular on this one – anything that comes out of my iPod works for me!
What is your biggest pet hate about motoring today?
Caravans in rush hour – there should be a rule to ban them!
What do you like most about your current position?
The interaction on so many different levels with staff, suppliers and customers – it makes the role varied and different every day 
What do you consider the proudest moment in your present job?
That’s a tricky one – but about two years ago, under my guidance, Alphabet were the first leasing company to mandate that dealers should use handheld technology at point of handover. The rest of the industry has since followed suit but it’s always good to be the people who instigate a process.
If you could pick any car in the world, what would you have sitting in your driveway?
Aston Martin DB9 [pictured left].
FD: Finally, what lies ahead for Alphabet? How do you expect the company to progress and what can we expect to see from you in the future?
Matt: We are approaching the end of the most momentous year for Alphabet since the company’s launch 14 years ago. Alphabet has restructured under Chief Executive Richard Schooling, who took over the reins in April, and we now have a broader, stronger platform for our growing range of fleet management and leasing products.
In the past, we shared some back office functions with BMW Financial Services but this year we became operationally independent in the UK, which enhances our scope to develop new fleet management and mobility solutions alongside our multi-marque leasing offer.
We are still part of the BMW Group, of course, with all the tangible and intangible advantages that follow for our customers – such access to funding from outside the crisis-weakened UK banking sector and the overriding ethos of attention to detail in everything we do.
The biggest move is, of course, Alphabet’s acquisition of ING Car Lease. It is still in progress so I can’t say much at this stage. When it is complete at the end of this year, Alphabet will be a major presence in the UK and European fleet management markets. It will be an important step forward for us but it won’t be a break with the past.
Alphabet launched in 1997 to bring fresh impetus and customer focused innovation to the leasing and fleet management sector, and our commitment to building our business around our customers’ needs remains as strong as ever.
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