A demand for vehicle contracts with greater flexibility coupled with the desire to test a range of electric vehicles (EVs) to understand their suitability in different scenarios has helped fuel the growth of green mobility provider Sogo.

The company is backed by dealer group Cambria Automobiles and is the result of a conversation between Karl Howkins, who now heads up the business, and Cambria chairman and chief executive officer Mark Lavery. “Mark told me that he wanted to get into fleet and I told him that offering mobility services was the way to go, I could see it’s what consumers wanted,” says Howkins.

Howkins has enjoyed many years in the automotive industry since he started washing cars as a teenager at a Vauxhall dealership. He quickly rose through the ranks to various managing director positions, latterly at Citroën UK.

His father and Sogo colleague is well-connected Fleet News Hall of Famer Maurice Howkins, whose career includes 50 years at Vauxhall and eight at General Motors, where he was Europe-wide corporate sales director. “Dad was the reason I started work at a Vauxhall dealership and in the car industry; I had no choice really,” he jokes.