Auto & General’s Budget Direct has revealed plans to more than double its $45m pre-tax profit in the next three to four years.

This comes as the company unveiled it is launching into the life insurance business and has rebranded the GI side, to reflect the growing suite of products including health and personal accident which it launched in May and June, respectively, and to compete with IAG and Suncorp. It hopes by doing so, it will reach the $100m target.

“From a workforce of four to nearly 900 employees across Australia, servicing almost 600,000 policies, Budget Direct is no longer simply a challenger brand in the market – it is a true business success story,” said Budget Direct CEO and managing director Ram Kangatharan.

“We’re a serious competitor in the Australian insurance market. We’re on a growth trajectory and plan to double our size,” he added.

As part of the GI rebrand, Budget Direct has revealed a new logo and website. It has also started airing a new TV campaign – a departure from ‘Michael and Michelle’ commercials which have been running for five years – and revealed the new slogan ‘simply smarter insurance’.

“We reached a point with the product suite where the message ‘cut the cost not the cover’ did not work any more,” a spokeswoman told Insurance Business. “It related to motor insurance, which is what we sold when we first launched. Now we sell a suite of products and that message is no longer appropriate.”