Francis Bleasdale has joined BCA as business development director, OEM with responsibilities key manufacturer such as BMW and Toyota, amongst others. 

Bleasdale (pictured) joins BCA following five years in senior roles with Fiat-Chrysler Automobile, including the past year spent in Fiat-Chrysler’s Turin headquarters working in international sales operations and four years with responsibilities as the UK fleet and remarketing director.

Prior to this, Bleasdale spent nine years at Nissan in a number of key roles including UK LCV sales and marketing director and head of fleet and used cars (Europe).

Bleasdale said: “I am delighted to be joining BCA as the market leader providing integrated solutions for both physical and digital services to the automotive industry. 

"BCA is uniquely placed to deliver a comprehensive range of linked services to OEM’s, through the combined infrastructure of portside operations, regional de-fleet facilities, vehicle logistics and preparation centres and a suite of remarketing channels, including physical, hybrid and digital exchanges.”   

BCA’s commercial director OEM Matt Bristow said “Francis brings a wealth of experience to this new role, gained in senior management positions in fleet, used cars and international sales for Fiat-Chrysler and Nissan and he is a valuable addition to the BCA OEM team.” 

Bleasdale will initially focus on service delivery to two of BCA’s OEM customers, BMW Group and Toyota Remarketing Services Group. 

BCA agreed a five-year Auto Services Solutions contract with BMW UK, which includes its specialist leasing business, Alphabet last year.