Andrew Smith is the Managing Director of Sixt UK, overseeing the company’s operations and strategic growth across the region. With extensive experience in the mobility and automotive sector, he is focused on driving innovation, customer excellence, and expanding Sixt’s footprint in the UK market. Andrew is known for his leadership in shaping high-performing teams and delivering sustainable business results.
Which EV do you drive, and why that model?
I am lucky that I get to change my car very regularly. I currently drive a BMW i5, which I has the perfect balance of performance, excellent range, comfort, and technology features. It has everything you need for business or leisure travel with space for the family and luggage. It provides the kind of driving experience that genuinely changes how customers think about EVs and I can confidently recommend it. That’s exactly the role we want our SIXT teams to play, fully understanding these vehicles inside and out, so we can give our customers the information, choice and confidence to try an EV.
The EV landscape, both charging and cars, is changing fast. What’s your personal sense of that?
EVs are quickly becoming a normal, everyday part of mobility. What really stands out is just how fast the experience is improving, from longer ranges to smarter in-car tech and easier charging. For us at SIXT, the focus is on making sure customers always have access to the most modern, high-quality and easy to use vehicles available. Coupled with our digital-first solutions, this makes EVs feel practical, reliable, and enjoyable for everyday use.
SIXT has made strong public commitments to fleet electrification across Europe. What does that roadmap look like specifically for the UK, and how quickly do you expect EVs to become the majority of your UK fleet?
SIXT is already one of Europe’s largest operators of electric fleets, and the UK is a key market in our journey toward electrification. We continuously refresh our fleet with the newest models from manufacturers from city-friendly EVs such as the BMW iX1 or Jeep Avenger to spacious saloons including the Mercedes-Benz EQA and BMW i4 and i5. This year we are excited to be welcoming the fabulous new BMW iX3 into our fleet.
In the UK, EV fleets are growing across strategic locations including Knightsbridge, Park Lane, Liverpool Street, Richmond, and major airports like London City, Heathrow Terminal 4, and Gatwick. We’re also expanding beyond London in key travel hubs such as Sheffield, Birmingham, and Jersey and Guernsey, ensuring modern, efficient vehicles are available wherever our customers need them.
What are you seeing in terms of real-world customer demand for electric rental vehicles in the UK – and how is that demand evolving across business, leisure, and subscription customers?
We’re definitely seeing demand for electric vehicles grow in the UK, although it does vary by customer type.
Business customers, especially in cities and at airports, tend to be early adopters. They like EVs for shorter journeys.
Leisure customers are increasingly giving EVs a go too, helped by better range, more visible charging infrastructure, longer ranges and the chance to try premium models.
Subscription and flexible-use customers, through our SIXT+ car subscription service, are particularly open to EVs. They like being able to try an EV without a long-term commitment, and once they’ve experienced the technology, we often see them come back to it.
Access to reliable charging remains one of the biggest friction points for EV adoption. How is SIXT working with charging providers, airports, and local authorities to ensure a seamless charging experience for your customers?
Reliable charging is absolutely key to making EVs work for customers, especially in a rental context. That’s why we focus on integration and partnerships, rather than expecting people to figure out the charging landscape on their own.
Through our product SIXT Charge, customers can access thousands of public charging points fully integrated in the SIXT app, which makes things like payment and route planning much simpler. Alongside that, we work closely with airports, charging providers and local partners to improve on-site and nearby charging at key locations.
Initiatives like our Europa and Explorer EV Rallies have really underlined how important smart charging solutions and clear, practical guidance are in helping EV mobility feel genuinely seamless. We also train our teams to support first-time EV renters, showing them how to charge and optimise range, ensuring the experience is smooth, even for new drivers.
From a fleet operator’s perspective, how do EVs now compare to ICE vehicles on total cost of ownership, and what has surprised you most about operating large-scale electric fleets?
What’s really surprised us is just how much cost and risk sits outside traditional ownership models. From employees using their own cars for work to inefficiencies in grey fleets. Electric fleets deliver the most value when offered through flexible access, like rentals or subscriptions, allowing businesses and drivers to pick the right, modern vehicle when they need it.
SIXT positions itself as a global mobility platform rather than just a rental company. How do electric vehicles enable that transition, and what role will EVs play in your long-term mobility-as-a-service strategy?
For us, mobility-as-a-service is really about access and flexibility, not ownership, and EVs fit very naturally into that model. They make it easy for customers to choose a modern, premium vehicle for a specific journey or period, without having to make a long-term commitment.
With our rapid fleet rotation, keeping the average vehicle age well below one year, we’re constantly putting the latest, most efficient EVs on the road. Within the SIXT platform, EVs also sit alongside other powertrains and mobility options, supporting sustainable, premium, and on-demand mobility giving people the freedom to move the way they actually travel today.
That said, we’re clear that the future of individual mobility will be emissions-free, and electromobility is a key pillar in transforming the transport sector. However, the pace of this transition depends on framework conditions across the entire value chain such as the expansion of fast-charging infrastructure at key locations like airports and continued growth in customer acceptance for EVs in short-term rentals, vehicle availability from manufacturers, and competitive electricity pricing. While we can’t control all these factors individually, they shape how quickly we and the industry can scale.
Looking ahead five years, how do you see the UK’s urban mobility landscape changing, and what role will SIXT play in accelerating the transition to zero-emission transport?
UK cities are already moving towards more flexible, access-based mobility, driven by changing work patterns and rising customer expectations. Despite that, many businesses still rely on employees using their own cars for work.
Over the next five years, we expect urban mobility to continue shifting away from ownership and towards shared, digitally enabled access to modern vehicles. SIXT’s role is to help speed up that transition. Through our rapidly refreshed fleet, keeping vehicles well below one year old, and investments in charging infrastructure at key locations, we make it simple for customers to choose the right vehicle for each journey.
