BYD has appointed its first head of fleet sales for the UK market alongside its first head of remarketing, supporting a greater focus on both areas.
Claudio de Freitas has been promoted to the new head of fleet sales role
Announced as part of a raft of key recruitments across the carmaker’s sales and aftersales departments, Claudio de Freitas has been promoted to the new head of fleet sales role from his previous position as national contract hire & leasing manager.
De Freitas joined BYD in August 2023 as UK fleet sales manager and was promoted to the contract hire and leasing role in March this year. He has 15 years’ experience in the automotive and leasing sector that includes almost seven years at Sytner Group and near six years at Tesla, including almost four years as fleet commercial & relationship lead (UK & IE).
Alongside this change, Malcolm Fryer, who joined BYD in 2023 following a stint at Ineos Automotive, now becomes the UK’s head of remarketing.
BYD said the dedicated resources were due to the company’s significant success in both fleet sales and the growing importance of remarketing for the brand, allowing greater focus on each side of the business.
Marcus Hazelwood joins the business as head of retail sales
Meanwhile, Marcus Hazelwood joins the business as head of retail sales. He brings a huge wealth of experience to BYD UK, having moved from his role as head of manufacturer/OEM at Autotrader, with previous stints at Ineos Automotive, Nissan and Volkswagen Group. The new role will see Hazelwood lead the 11-strong team spread across regional postings and sales operatives based at BYD HQ in Uxbridge.
Thomas Brady has been promoted to head of network development from his previous role as network development manager. The new position sees him oversee the expansion of the brand’s dealership network. In his previous role, he has already played a significant part in the brand’s UK expansion to 38 dealer network partners over the course of 2025.