Autocar Drivers of Change 2022: winners revealed

Diversity and Inclusion winner: Leader of PurpleLightUp day at Ford - Darren Coan

With such radical change unfolding in the automotive industry every day, the new Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) category was introduced to reflect the nature of the industry’s fast-paced progression.

Darren Coan, the first ever winner of this category, is the Ford ambassador for people with disabilities and feels very strongly about giving those individuals the voice they deserve in a competitive workplace. For him, diversity is “making the world more equitable to give everyone a platform to be heard and listened to”.

By running the first PurpleLightUp day at Ford, he introduced the company to a cross-sector celebration of 386 million employees with disabilities, using that and social media to “raise awareness and start a conversation about disability both internally and externally”, even going so far as to change the blue Ford oval to purple.

For Coan thoroughly enjoys working with Ford as he is given all the tools he needs to be a role model and ensure those in the workforce living with a disability are more vocal than ever.

This inclusivity is also a vital tool in making the company more aspirational for prospective job applicants. He added: “While the majority of disabilities are invisible, just seeing someone that has something you can relate to can actually make you apply for that company.“Diversity and inclusion in this industry is hugely important because the industry should be reflective of both its local community and its customer base … if the motoring industry isn’t diversity inclusive, it won’t attract the talent it needs to continue to be successful.”

Coan has bigger, brighter plans for the future of diversity, too. This includes creating a dictionary of ‘common-ground’ words which can be used in a global industry to recognise the standards of certain cultures - ensuring people don’t feel alienated in cross-country working environments.

Upon winning, he said: “I’m really pleased that I won as it highlights the work that I and others have done over the years who are really passionate about making the world more accessible”.

Retail winner: Bumper 

Being presented with a large bill when your car needs a service or immediate repair is never a pleasant experience, which is why the Retail category winner Jack Allman and his business partner James Jackson came up with the idea for Bumper. This is an easy-to-use payment platform through which customers can pay their car servicing bill in one- to six-month instalments.

Describing his and Jackson’s bright idea, Allman said, “This is a good way to not only help the driver but help the dealer as well. By enabling the customer to spread the cost, they can afford all of their repairs and therefore the dealer is selling all of the identified work”.

Starting in 2015, Allman and Jackson have taken Bumper from strength to strength, now working with over 4000 dealerships, including franchised ones, and garages not only in the UK but also Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. The key is the way their product can be integrated into dealer systems and platforms, for easy customer access.

Bumper’s customers have since seen the benefit, with 93% of reviews on Trustpilot rated four and five stars. 

Allman has further expansion plans. Bumper recently added an online widget that allows motorists to see an interactive image of a car that will calculate the cost of a repair depending on which part of the car is clicked, for example the wheels, gearbox or engine.

“We’re constantly adding new products to our payments platform”, says Allman. “In addition to ‘buy now pay later’ we have ‘pay now’ facilities through an email link, Apple Pay or secure bank transfers. We’re also working on products around physical payments because facilitating online, offline or in-store transactions is key to us. We’re just scratching the surface in what we feel we can help customers with”. 

Digital winner: Immense Simulations

The winners of the Digital category - Carl Goves, Robin North, Didac Busquets and Eifion Jenkins - have created a system that aims to increase productivity by slashing traffic snarl-ups with advanced simulator technology. In creating Immense Simulations, a simulator platform, the firm allows town planners to virtually model potential traffic problems.