Santander Consumer Finance, a finance and leasing provider, has appointed former BMW Group executive Adam Harley to the role of sales director.

Harley is tasked with growing Santander’s contract hire and leasing operations, as the leasing provider targets trebling its fleet.

Already ranked 11^th in the U.K’.s list of the top 50 leasing companies, Santander says it wants to treble its fleet from 43,375 vehicles to around 130,000 vehicles within five years to make it the fifth-largest contract hire provider in the U.K.

Harley is vastly experienced in the corporate sales sector. He joins Santander with immediate effect from BMW Group where he was head of key accounts for ALPHERA Financial Services; previously, he was national leasing manager for BMW UK and national sales manager for Alphabet. He also served as regional sales manager at Arval.

“We are delighted to welcome Adam Harley to the business. He brings a wealth of knowledge to this new leadership role, having over 25 years’ experience at the highest level in the industry,” said Stewart Grant, Santander Consumer Finance’s commercial director.

“Growth within the contract hire and leasing sector, including establishing a direct to corporate channel, is a key element of our mid-term commercial strategy. Adam will be pivotal in delivering that strategy and I am confident he will make a great success of it,” he added. 

Harley commented: “I welcome this opportunity to lead the growth of Santander Consumer Finance’s contract hire and leasing business and further develop the proposition to appeal to a broader customer base. In the immediate future I am looking forward to working with the current sales and operations teams, and then to establishing the organization’s corporate sales division.”