Alphabet’s growth since acquiring ING Car Lease in 2011 has seen the company’s leased fleet in the UK surpass the 100,000 vehicle mark.

Multi-marque vehicle supplier Alphabet, which is part of BMW Group, cements its number three position in the FN50. At the time the merger was completed in October, the company had around 95,000 vehicles in its portfolio.

This figure is now at over 105,000 and it was Next, a customer of both Alphabet and ING individually before the merger, which placed the landmark order that took Alphabet’s portfolio to 100,000 vehicles.

This week, Greg Taylor (pictured), commercial director of Alphabet, formally handed the keys of the Nissan Juke 5 door hatch 1.5 dCi Acenta to Next HR manager - Business Systems and Company Cars - Avelino Zuzarte (pictured), at Next’s Leicester HQ.

Zuzarte said: “It’s always good to see a valued supplier achieve a major milestone for their business. Of course, the key factors in our relationship are the quality of service and value for money we receive.”

ING has been a supplier to Next for a number of years. Alphabet became joint supplier in 2010.

Taylor said: “We’ve always seen customer satisfaction and longstanding relationships as the keys to successful growth.

“At the same time, becoming a major presence in the fleet market allows us to pass on the benefits of scale to our customers, both with existing products and with the exciting new vehicle management and sustainable mobility solutions that we have in the pipeline."