Fleet management in 2025

Graham Lesslie (above), CEO of Edinburgh-based leasing broker Gofor, provides his personal view on fleet management in 2025

MARKET conditions were challenging in 2024, but that’s changing. We see the fleet management market beginning to normalise in 2025 as customers start to look for value, quality and support with their company car and van fleets.

In terms of the transition to electric, the ICE ban shifting out to 2035 under the Sunak administration did put uncertainty in the market. Labour has now reversed that back to 2030, and it’s been great to see their recent engagement with the automotive industry on this and the direction of travel is good on the ZEV mandate. We’re now seeing improved market stability, and Gofor is tracking really well in the EV space.

Positive activity from automotive industry figureheads and trade bodies will certainly help to bust some of the myths around EVs, campaigns such as the BVRLA’s #happyEVafter and our own EV myth-busting series will help massively here. That continued messaging will be key, alongside a strong government narrative on electrification.

‍Is there a strong customer appetite for electrification?

Yes. Drivers have been attracted by the enticingly low EV benefit-in-kind rates, which dovetail with companies seeking to decarbonise their fleets and the carbon discharge of their businesses. In this area we’ve been particularly successful with salary sacrifice schemes. The expanding number of EV manufacturers has also been helpful and means there is now a range of attainable price points for most businesses.

Our expectations are definitely different for electric vans compared with cars. We expect the LCV leasing segment to grow but we do see eLCVs lagging behind. Salary sacrifice has been a brilliant lever to boost electric car take up and it would be great to see an incentive in the van space. We see real potential in the small van market but as an industry we need to break down the perceived barriers, such as charging infrastructure, and potential lack of range, while working more actively to get more businesses to trial an eLCV.

I think 2025 could be a transformational year for the electric van market. The question fleet managers need to begin asking is ‘how do I bring more electric vans into my business’, instead of ‘should I’?

It could be a big year for eLCVs, such as the Ford e-Transit Custom (pictured charging above).

What is your view on used electric vehicles?

In a similar vein to electric vans, 2025 could also be the year of the breakthrough in used EVs at scale. Autotrader published a report at the tail end of 2024 citing that a growing number of three-to-five-year-old EVs cost the same or less than their petrol or diesel counterparts. That’s exciting and, in my view, will benefit the leasing sector too; as the driving of EVs becomes more normalised, we’ll see even greater adoption of electric company cars and vans as more leasing brokers start to roll out used EV schemes.

‍‍What are your expectations for the coming year?

Market growth, particularly in the business-to-business space where Gofor is active. Businesses like Gofor remain critical, especially for SMEs who often need more support with the‘heavy lifting’ elements of fleet management. The latest BVRLA Industry Outlook report is interesting in this context, with members forecasting a 14.4% increase in fleet car sales (Jan-Oct 2025) and proffering more optimism for 2025 v 2024 in the salary sacrifice for electric vehicles, fleet management and business contract hire spaces.

I expect to see an increase in the adoption of AI which will have a big impact on those businesses that use it well. Gofor is excited to embrace that new technology over the next 12 months, indeed, in the last six months alone we’ve placed AI at the heart of our marketing campaign planning, incorporated it into our customer success team and built tools such as our fleet vehicle finder to more quickly identify the right company cars and vans for our customers. 2025 will see more of this, helping us to offer an even better service and free up time for greater quality and more meaningful customer interactions.

The ongoing shift to vehicle electrification, and I believe the customer education and support that companies like Gofor, automotive trade bodies, and the government can provide will be critical to making that transition a success. The barriers are undoubtedly falling away. It’s our job to make sure our customers understand this and can start their EV adoption journey as soon as possible.