Europcar Mobility Group is creating a Nordic ‘cluster’ across Denmark, Finland and Norway to be led by new managing director Stéphane Soille. Soille will be supported by a country head with a commercial focus for each of the three markets: Christian Øien for Denmark, Kimmo Vainio for Finland and Bjørn Briskeby for Norway.
The Denmark business, a former Europcar franchisee, was acquired by the group in April 2017, from Christian Ree. The franchises of Finland and Norway were acquired in February 2019, from Jussi and Matti Holopainen. All three franchisees have now left the company.
Gary Smith, Europcar’s managing director, Northern Europe and USA, said: “Today, the group is able to make this change, thanks to the successful acquisition and integration allowed by the former owners of these businesses. We would like to thank Christian, Jussi and Matti for the drive and commitment to the group and wish them every success in their new ventures.
“The three businesses have a very strong service culture and are well positioned to grow on the B2B segment with tailor-made, innovative mobility solutions: the recent partnership sealed with Post Nord and Mercedes-Benz in Denmark, to provide full electric vans with a long-term solution that includes connectivity and data management, is the perfect illustration of the innovative offers that these teams are able to build for B2B customers, in line with the group’s strategy.”
Europcar is the number one in its sector in both Denmark and Finland and the number three in Norway.