Fleet Europe °96

FOR INTERNATIONAL FLEET & MOBILITY LEADERS

#96 03/2018

26 PAGES

CAR MANUFACTURERS’ STRATEGY

Nexus Communication - Fleet Europe #96 - Periodic magazine - March 2018 - Deposit Office Liège X

• Trends in the Automotive Market • Powertrains Strategy • B2E and Private Lease • Fleet Model Calendar 2018

HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL “Put Safety first”

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TIM ALBERTSEN, 2017 HALL OF FAME

Corporate carpooling in Europe p. 44-45

seat.com/arona

Budget said RV. Team said SUV. I say Arona.

The new SEAT Arona.

Do your thing.

The city crossover built for the bold. An advanced, high-performance engine.

Agile. Powerful. Sharp. It all adds up to best-in-class RV. Because building your fleet shouldn’t be rocket science.

Just smart, and easy.

SEAT FOR BUSINESS.

• 8" Navigation with Full Link • Wireless charger • Rear view camera • 400l boot capacity • 1.0 TSI 85 KW DQ & MO • 1.0 TSI 70 KW MQ

Official fuel consumption for the SEAT Arona FR 1.0 TSI 115 PS in mpg (litres per 100 km): urban 47.9 (5.9); extra-urban 65.7 (4.3); combined 57.6 (4.9).

C02 emissions 113 g/km. Standard EU Test figures for comparative purposes and may not reflect real driving results.

CONTENT 4-37

FROM GENEVA TO ROME

DOSSIER

The Geneva Motor Show is the annual showcase of what's important to OEMs. As this year's edition demonstrates, three trends dominate: powertrain electrification, ADAS development and increased connectivity.

A tale of two trends 2018 will be another record year for vehicle fleet sales. The economic climate and consumer confidence in the EU are more than positive as companies are investing in new workforce and private consumers are changing their behaviour, opting for using instead of owning and coming into the fleet environment. Enjoy our Dossier Car Manufacturers' Fleet Strategy 2018!

These trends – all covered in our dossier on Car Manufacturers' Fleet Strategy – tick many boxes: they improve health and safety, they're good for the environment, and they increase comfort.

Yes, the Geneva Motor Show is a fantastic place to learn about the future of fleet management. But the core question remains: How will this increase cost-efficiency?

True enough, each of these trends has clear cost benefits. However, maximising that impact can be complex, especially when managing their implementation within an international context. And this is precisely the subject of the 2018 Global Fleet Conference in Rome (28-30 May).

The questions raised in Geneva will be answered in Rome, via case studies and expert insights, on each of the three main topics – and more. Take the road to the Eternal City to set your vehicle fleet programme on course for a successful future.

More info on conference.globalfleet.com.

Don't miss this unique opportunity to learn, share and network.

Steven SCHOEFS Chief Editor, Fleet Europe

The safest fleet............................................................23 Car2Home and Home2Car............................ 24 Keep calm and diesel on................................. 26 Chinese disruption at last............................ 30 Competitive and rewarding B2E............ 32 To externalise or not to externalise... 34 No future without private lease................... 36

Record year for the Big-5 True Fleet Markets................................................................ 5 Increased focus on WLTP and electrification............................................................ 10 Electrification replaces Diesel................... 16 The power to reshape everything.......... 18 New Kia Ceed exceeding expectations....21

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50-55

56

INNOVATION

ANALYSIS

MANAGEMENT

From the Geneva Motorshow 2018

Fuel strategy, tips and tricks, fuel cards evolution

Meet with the winner of the International Fleet Safety Award

MOBILITY

Why delivery is going social………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 42 Carpooling: unknown but loved…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 44

REMARKETING

'Offline' remarketing with or without future……………………………………………………………………………………… 46

EXPERT

Crash course in ethics……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 48

17 MAY

IFMI WEBINAR ABOUT WLTP IMPACT

Digital

28 - 30 MAY

BUSINESS Interview with Brigitte Courtehoux & Philippe Belorgey, Free2Move Lease……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 62 Interview with Tim Albertsen, ALD……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 64

GLOBAL FLEET CONFERENCE 2018 Rome

Interview with Linda Jackson, Citroën……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 66 Interview with Christophe de Beaumont, Nissan…………………………………………………………………………… 67

DOSSIER

A TALE OF TWO TRENDS STEVEN SCHOEFS

2018 will be another record year for vehicle fleet sales.

At least, that’s the forecast of Dataforce. And we have to agree that all signs are looking good: the economic climate and consumer confidence in the EU are more than positive as companies are investing in new workforce and private consumers are changing their behaviour, opting for using instead of owning and coming into the fleet environment.

This is good news for car manufacturers’ fleet divisions, who also encounter two serious challenges in Europe: on the one hand, there’s the declining appetite for diesel which impacts the powertrain mix in countries like Germany, the UK and France. On the other hand, there are the ramifications on taxation and consequently on consumer behaviour of the new emission testing procedure WLTP which yields higher CO2-results than the previous testing method.

Regarding the diesel topic, there are believers and non-believers, depending on their strategy and interests: Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are firmly in the first category and Toyota and Volvo in the second one. The consumer side, too, is divided in the same two camps.

With regard to WLTP, car manufacturers and fleet managers seem to have conflicting attitudes, the former trying to minimise the impact and the latter fearing substantial tax increases.

Whatever the outcome, it was great to see in Geneva that almost all car manufacturers are heavily investing in electrification with models that match ICE vehicles in terms of design, technology and comfort.

©gims.swiss

Enjoy our dossier!

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FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER

Record year for the Big-5 True Fleet Markets Richard Worrow, Dataforce 2017 True Fle 2018-02-09

et Market Fig ures

The True Fleet market across the EU's Big Five beat the previous year’s record, except for the UK. Richard Worrow, from the market research specialist Dataforce, analyses this growth and the main trends which will influence your strategies for 2018.

Confidential For internal

use only

WHAT’S DRIVING IN BIG-5 MARKETS? Mainly economic growth and confidence, low unemployment and reasonable interest rates, which keep the economy moving in the right direction. But we also see fleet policies widening, in several ways: more employees are becoming eligible for company cars, and - in order to better respond to driver needs - more vehicle types are allowed.

more important in the future when some industries will be faced with a shortage of labour, and consequently will have to deal with recruitment problems.

Simultaneously, both leasing companies and OEMs are increasingly aware that the fleet market is operating on different principles than the retail market, and they are now offering packages that specifically combine various elements to provide solutions tailor-made to the corporate customer's needs.

Of course, providing a company car as part of a salary package is a great way to attract and retain staff, and generally keep them happy. And this will become even

TRUE FLEET MARKET 2017 VS 2016

Richard Worrow, Dataforce

TRUE FLEET MARKET SHARE 2017 POLAND 17.4%

NETHERLANDS 15.8%

Others

SPAIN 12.5%

1.1%

AUSTRIA 10.6%

ITALY 6.2% SWEDEN 6.1%

7.3% 12.7%

2.2%

NORWAY 10.3%

FRANCE 7.2%

1%

2%

2.3%

CZECH REPUBLIC 10.1% FINLAND 7.5%

1.1%

7.9%

3% 3% 7.3%

3.1% 3.5%

BELGIUM 4.1% SWITZERLAND 3.1% GERMANY 2.1% DENMARK 5.2% UNITED KINGDOM -5.8%

FLEET EUROPE #96

7.2%

3.8%

5.4% 7.1% 5.8% 6.1%

6.9%

5

DOSSIER

TRUE FLEET MARKET VEHICLE SEGMENT 2008 - 2017

BIG-5 EU MARKETS

30%

TRUE FLEETS

25% 20%

FULL YEAR 2017

15%

5

+12.5% +7.2% +6.2%

+2.1% -5.8%

+1.6%

10% 5%

Small

Compact Car

Middle-Class

Offroad/SUV

Van

0% 2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

SPAIN

The SUV segment, 10 years ago still a small challenger segment, dominates the True Fleet Market in Europe.

• True Fleet: +12.5% • Only market to achieve positive growth for every single month • 4th consecutive year that fleet registrations surpassed their prior year figures • Total Market: over 8,000 units of the 1.3 million mark for 2017 • Best year since 2007

Government denounced but state-approved Catalonian independence referendum

FRANCE

• Alternative fuels are finally starting to make inroads, with market share increasing: 4.2% to 6.7% in the True Fleet market • Petrol also growing: 5% to 19.1% in True Fleets • Diesel is the big loser: 81.6% to 74.2% in True Fleets

• True Fleet: +7.2% • Total Market: 2.11 million in 2017, with all segments participating.

• One of the best annual results ever for France • Annual private registrations rose for the third year in a row • Private market: +2.3%

Presidential elections with controversial candidates polling high pre-election

ITALY

• SUVs were the best growing segment in fleets over 2017 • Utilities were the 2nd-fastest-growing segment: - +15.9% - Totaling 4.2% of True Fleet registrations in 2017 - Best growing segment in the Private Market for 2017: +16.9% • Small-car segment were the 3rd segment: + 12.4%

• True Fleet: + 6.2% despite 2 negative months • Total Market had its best year since 2009 with 2.1 million registrations • Private registration also had their best year since 2010

Political turmoil continued unabated and the end of the super-amortisation benefits for the majority of company cars • High figure for gas/petrol-powered vehicles (CNG, LPG): 160,000 registrations last year • Mostly registered in the Private market • True Fleets registering more hybrids • Diesel had also a good year thanks to more accommodating taxation • Hybrid from the private sector was the star: +82.5% and 20,000 registrations

6

1.

2.

3.

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5.

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8.

9.

10.

Renault Volkswagen Peugeot Audi BMW Seat Mercedes Ford Nissan Toyota

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Renault Peugeot Citroën Volkswagen BMW Audi Mercedes Ford Nissan Toyota

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Fiat Volkswagen Ford Audi Mercedes BMW Renault Peugeot Nissan Opel

FLEET EUROPE #96

GERMANY

DOSSIER

• True Fleet: +2.1% • Growth for the 4th year in a row and new all-time record • Germany fell only 30,000 units short of overtaking the UK as the biggest True Fleet market • Private Market: Solid growth of +4.4% with 1.2 million new passenger cars Germany started to feel the bite from “Dieselgate” with registration of diesels falling, alongside its own controversial elections

UNITED KINGDOM

• 1st vehicle segment for Private Market: SUVs with 15.6% overtaking both the MiddleClass (-9.9%) and Compact-Car (+0.5%) segment • For True Fleet Market: - SUVs: 22.3%, an all-time high - Middle-Class: 18.8%, the lowest share ever

• True Fleet: -5.8% but one of the highest volumes ever • Total Market: 2.54 million new registrations: - Fairly performant compared to the ten-year average of 2.28 million - But absolute volumes: -5.7%

New wave of vehicle taxes implemented from 1 April and the triggering of Brexit

• Diesel remains the preferred fuel for more than half of the new fleet cars • Hybrid registrations grew by 30.1% • Considering their tax advantage, hybrids may now be the most cost-efficient motorisation for commuting and short distances

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

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10.

Volkswagen Audi Mercedes BMW Ford Skoda Opel Renault Seat Peugeot

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Ford Vauxhall Volkswagen Mercedes Nissan Audi BMW Hyundai Toyota Kia

IN 2018?

We should see some growth this year.

There is still lots of growth potential for the Fleet market in most countries. And as mentioned, we see more tailor-made offerings from leasing companies and OEMs attracting customers towards True Fleet.

The UK is the exception among the Big Five: they are experiencing a set of conditions which have caused a contraction of the market in 2017. Brexit nerves are playing a role, as is the recently-introduced VED tax hike, which may have caused some companies to wait a little longer before the next replacement cycle.

Having said that, 2016 was a good year for the UK True Fleet market, and last year it was still bigger than for any single year from 2006 to 2014.

FLEET EUROPE #96

Considering the widespread vilification of diesel, it's hard not to see its decline continue. But the current rate of decline may not be sustainable: not just because that would require a higher production rate of petrol engines to fulfil market needs, but also because, for economic reasons, diesel is likely to remain the fuel type of choice for longer-distance drivers.

However, as governments change vehicle taxation and push for cleaner air, it seems that diesel will carry most of the burden, those economic advantages for diesel are under threat. Another change factor may well be the OEMs themselves. We could soon see diesel start to disappear from the small-car segment, with the Private market likely to lead the decline.

As more and more offerings enter the market, alternative powertrains will continue to gather speed in 2018. Fullelectric still has a few more hurdles to overcome before it really starts to make headway. Most notably: more infrastructure and more government support are needed. As technology keeps improving at rapid pace, EV range, charging speed and affordability are increasingly less of an issue.

7

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The new E-Class.

The new E-Class demonstrates that intelligence has many different sides. Whether in a Saloon, Estate, All-Terrain, CoupÊ or Cabriolet – with Intelligent Drive, you experience a whole new dimension of innovative safety and comfort. www.mercedes-benz.com/fleet

DOSSIER

Increased focus on WLTP and electrification Dieter Quartier @DieterQuartier

Ask any OEM what determines their agenda in 2018, and the answer is likely to be the introduction of the WLTP and electrification. How is this influencing their fleet strategy – if at all? Here is what they have to say about it.

EV

BMW GROUP FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL A dedicated team of Key Account Managers for the international fleet decision makers based at the BMW headquarters in Munich plus local Corporate Sales teams in each market.

BMW 3 Series Touring

Brands: BMW, Mini SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES BMW

Mini

39%

25%

Combined (group level)

35%

10

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL BMW 3 Series Touring KEY FLEET BENEFITS • BMW Group’s IKAM acts as single point of contact for the international fleet decision maker and works hand-inhand with the local BMW and MINI Fleet Operations.

FIRST WLTP MODEL X3 xDrive 20i and X3 xDrive 30i with start of production in December 2017.

FLEET STRATEGY In order to further reduce CO2 emissions, to improve air quality in cities and to be able to offer customers an entirely new, dynamic driving experience based on innovative technologies, BMW is adding further electric vehicles to its model range.

• BMW CarData offers access to telematics data sent out by the vehicle as part of the BMW ConnectedDrive services.

This enables pay-as-you-drive, for instance.

• Access to Ionity, a pan-European highpower charging network that enables E-mobility for long distance Travel.

FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER

DAIMLER FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Talking with customers on a continuous basis, understanding their specific needs, allows Daimler to master their profession.

Motto: “When our customers are able to run their business smoothly and successfully, we have done the job right.”

Mercedes C-Class

Brands: Mercedes-Benz, smart

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Mercedes C-Class KEY FLEET BENEFITS With its international framework agreement, customers are guaranteed customised solutions and the best possible

conditions in every country. The dedicated key account manager coordinates everything that is relevant for global corporate fleets.

FIRST WLTP MODEL Mercedes-Benz CLS FLEET STRATEGY It is more important than ever to be technologically open and offer the customer a choice of attractive and highly efficient products, as reaching the CO2 targets set by the EU is highly dependent on the customers' actual purchasing decisions.

FIAT CHRYSLER AUTOMOBILES

Fiat Panda

Brands: Fiat, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Fiat Professional SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES True fleet sales

FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL FCA is organised in 4 regions: NAFTA, LATAM, APAC and EMEA. On a European level, the group has an IKAM team dedicated to LTR and corporate customers.

On a local level every market has a National Key Account Management and a dedicated team for small and big companies, LTR and RAC.

that is why the Fleet & Business range perfectly covers all sectors of the market.

FLEET STRATEGY FCA is working on a range of green technological solutions that will be presented next June to the investor day held by CEO Sergio Marchionne.

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Fiat Panda KEY FLEET BENEFITS The FCA range is capable of meeting all business needs. Every single Fiat Chrysler Automobiles brand has a DNA that distinguishes it from the others, and

33%

FORD OF EUROPE FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Ford are globally organised and well represented with Global, European as well as local fleet teams to support fleet customers.

Ford Focus

Brand: Ford

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Ford Focus

SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

KEY FLEET BENEFITS • International fleet terms/contracts possible with a single point of contact.

Net fleet share (EU5)

• Key Account Managers across all European markets.

26%

FIRST WLTP MODEL Ford Mustang FLEET STRATEGY Ford will continue to pay close attention to the markets and adapt its offers accordingly. In general, Ford increases planned investments in electrification to $11 billion by 2022.

• Commercial vehicle specialists across all European countries supported by a dedicated Transit Center dealer network.

FLEET EUROPE #96

11

DOSSIER HYUNDAI MOTOR EUROPE FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL European Fleet & Remarketing team with dedicated Corporate Sales Manager for European tenders.

Hyundai Tucson

Brand: Hyundai SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES True fleet sales

25%

8%

RCA

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Hyundai Tucson

FLEET STRATEGY Hyundai considers itself to be well-prepared for the current market changes.

The company has invested significantly in low CO2 petrol engines. In addition, 2018 will see the launch of 4 different alternative fuel type vehicles.

KEY FLEET BENEFITS • Direct contact person for European Fleet tenders.

• Hyundai’s 5-year warranty package is unique in the industry.

• A comprehensive product portfolio including various electrified solutions.

JAGUAR LAND ROVER

Jaguar F-Pace

Brands: Jaguar, Land Rover

FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL JLR’s International Fleet Manager is responsible for the compilation and delivery of a comprehensive proposal by working in collaboration with the internal regions and markets. The company focuses on markets that have either a significant fleet volume or a large fleet share of overall sales.

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Jaguar F-Pace

KEY FLEET BENEFITS Unique, premium characteristics combined with competitive TCO numbers.

Strong residual values and lower SMR costs are at the heart of JLR’s success.

The company will be moving into new markets and strengthen its fleet sales structure.

FLEET STRATEGY Every new Jaguar Land Rover model line will be electrified from 2020, allowing customers to choose between mild hybrid, full hybrid and electric.

KIA FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Centralised Key Account Management team (2), plus back-office support resource (1). Dedicated resource with customer-facing responsibility for International Fleets account management and RFQ response.

Kia Sportage

Brand: Kia SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

20%

12

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Kia Sportage

FIRST WLTP MODEL New Kia Ceed FLEET STRATEGY With a strong line-up of next generation powertrains, Kia is well placed to become the “go-to” OEM for fleets that are targeting significant reductions in CO2 emissions.

KEY FLEET BENEFITS Kia can today offer full electric, hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Fuel-cell electric vehicle technology is also currently in development and will be brought to markets where the local infrastructure is in place to support.

FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER MASERATI FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Maserati has a fleet structure in its HQ as well as in the top European markets to satisfy customer needs. Both structures are increasing.

Maserati Levante

Brand: Maserati SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Maserati Levante

FLEET STRATEGY By embracing diesel, Maserati offers its customers lower CO2 emissions and better fuel economy. In accordance with the global FCA activity, the brand is studying to improve the ecological footprint of its vehicles.

KEY FLEET BENEFITS • A very flexible organisation to accomplish all the different customer needs in the different countries • Starting in June 2018, Maserati will introduce its next-gen line-up, adopting additional high-tech contents

25%

NISSAN

Nissan Qashqai

Brand: Nissan SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

40%

FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL IKAM, KAM, Fleet Managers and Back office support. Mix cross-functional support team for Local and Global response.

A global and international team with cross-functional capability is structured in order to respond to all types of customer requests.

i.e. V2G, Xstorage (2nd life battery development), car sharing and telematics.

FIRST WLTP MODEL New Leaf FLEET STRATEGY Nissan’s brand and fleet strategy are on track to face the WLTP challenge with innovation.

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Nissan Qashqai KEY FLEET BENEFITS • Flexibility of the organisation which allows the company to adapt to the customer’s needs and requests • An unrivalled experience with e-mobility and the surrounding ecosystem,

GROUPE PSA FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL 3 dedicated teams to International Key Accounts, Leasers and Short Term Rental companies supported by a Back Office that manage requests & tenders together with the national B2B Teams.

Peugeot 208

Brands: Peugeot, Citroën, DS Automobiles SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

35%

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Peugeot 208 KEY FLEET BENEFITS • International fleet partners have a single point of contact at HQ/Corporate level, acting for the 3 brands, and worldwide • Through its mobility brand Free2Move, Groupe PSA offers 2 solutions which

FLEET EUROPE #96

help optimise fleet management, namely Connect Fleet (telematics) and Fleet Sharing • A full range of models across 3 brands, from city car to large panel van FIRST WLTP MODEL Peugeot 308, Peugeot 5008 and DS7 Crossback FLEET STRATEGY PSA does not promote a specific technology. Its 2 platforms enable the OEM to meet client expectations, either with thermic (petrol/diesel), electric or hybrid technology. Over the next 3 years, 15 hybrid or electric models will join the range.

13

DOSSIER RENAULT FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Specific Corporate Sales Division at global, regional and local levels. 10 Corporate International Key Account Managers.

Renault Clio

Brands: Renault, Dacia SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Renault Clio

• Complete range of PC, EVs and LCVs for all customers' needs.

FLEET STRATEGY EV has been a key point of Groupe Renault strategy since 2011. The current energy context evolution is a real opportunity for Groupe Renault to strengthen its EV leadership in Europe.

KEY FLEET BENEFITS • Global team of international Key Account Managers for a global answer and coordination of international customers.

• Global answer with Renault-NissanMitsubishi Alliance.

33%

• Specific fleet divisions in all Renault subsidiaries all around the world

SAIC FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Direct approach through a tailored network of our own salesforce and several local representatives in several European markets.

Maxus EV80

Brand: Maxus SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

100%

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Maxus EV80 (10 – 11m³, 192km range) KEY FLEET BENEFITS • The all-electric Maxus EV80 offers a strong solution for fleet managers looking to improve the environmental footprint of their fleet.

a very effective line of communication, the best possible solution for fleet managers and a strong pricing proposition.

FLEET STRATEGY SAIC Mobility Europe’s focus is completely on electric vehicles. Beyond 2018, the company will increase its offering of electric vehicles. This product range extension will include LCVs as well as passenger cars.

• The direct approach offers fleet customers the opportunity to discuss their needs and acquire their solutions directly from the OEM. This results in

TESLA INTERNATIONAL FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Tesla manages global requests by setting clear expectations upfront and providing the necessary tools and information needed to mould global requests into a tailored solution.

Tesla Model S

Brand: Tesla SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES

50%

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Tesla Model S KEY FLEET BENEFITS • Tesla has a very open, ‘democratic’, centralised approach, offering the same commercial conditions to all FML companies.

and these automatically improve over time.

• A range of electric vehicles that offer a better TCO than comparable ICE models from competitors.

FIRST WLTP MODEL Model 3 FLEET STRATEGY Accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable transportation is part of Tesla’s bigger mission “To accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy”, which is supported by an ecosystem of solar roof and solar storage.

• Tesla drivers have access to the most advanced safety features available –

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FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER VOLKSWAGEN GROUP

Volkswagen Golf

Brands: Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, SKODA, Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES True fleet sales

FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL An international team of Key Account Managers and Tender coordinators who have a broad experience in the management of international customers. VW Group is in close contact with its importers in order to coordinate the discounts for international customers.

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Volkswagen Golf is the number 1 model in the total European fleet market with a share of 3.5%.

KEY FLEET BENEFITS VW Group’s IKAMs coming from various backgrounds are experts in the region

34.8%

they are responsible for, allowing them to give the right answers to the local and regional needs of the customers. This is supported by a wide 5-brand distribution network in 153 markets.

FIRST WLTP MODEL VW Up! FLEET STRATEGY VW Group finds it important to have a permanent exchange with its customers.

In addition to personal contact, VW Group uses its media (magazines, newsletters, websites, etc.) to provide information about these topics in a transparent and informative manner.

VOLVO CAR CORPORATION FLEET ORGANISATION EUROPE & GLOBAL Global Fleet team of 4 account managers, supported by the Volvo Business Centre team in Gothenburg. They work in close partnership with the local fleet teams in the National Sales Companies and Importers.

Volvo XC60

Brand: Volvo Cars SHARE EU TRUE FLEET SALES IN TOTAL SALES 42%

Global fleet sales

FLEET EUROPE #96

TOP SELLING FLEET MODEL Volvo XC60 KEY FLEET BENEFITS • A collaborative approach with the country-based colleagues.

• A plug-in hybrid powertrain in the V60, XC60, S90, V90, XC90.

FIRST WLTP MODEL V60 FLEET STRATEGY All new Volvo Cars launched from 2019 onwards will have an electric motor covering fully electric cars, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid cars, where a 48-volt motor supplements the combustion engine.

• Digital commerce to make working with Volvo as easy as possible – for example Volvo’s new e-signature agreements process speeds up time and simplifies administration.

15

DOSSIER

Electrification replaces diesel Stijn Blanckaert HEV

EV

NOx emissions and Dieselgate have led to the rapid decline of diesel. To meet stricter regulations, OEMs are investing in lowemission alternatives, such as hybrids, battery-EVs and gas- or nitrogen-powered cars.

We asked the OEMs which powertrain choices they have made for the near future.

• By 2022: electrified alternative for every model segment • By 2025: between 15 and 25 percent of sales all-electric • Today: B-Class EV and Smart EV

C-Class

FORD

• Increase of its investments in electrification to $11 billion by 2022 • Expanded electrified portfolio to include 40 electrified vehicles by 2022

Mondeo HEV

HYUNDAI

• Ioniq EV • Kona EV to be launched

Ioniq hybrid

JLR

• 2018: Jaguar I-Pace

KIA

• Soul and Nitro EVs

DAIMLER

FCA

Optima, Niro

MASERATI

16

NISSAN

• Nissan Leaf (new model) • E-NV200

RENAULT

• 2018: EV-range from Twizy through Zoe to Master EV

SAIC

• Beyond 2018: increase in offering of EVs

TESLA

• 2018: Model 3 alongside Model S and Model X

VOLKSWAGEN

• 50 purely electric vehicles by 2025 • VW e-Up!, e-Golf • VW Golf & Passat GTE

VOLVO

• From 2019 on: fully electric models to be launched

FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER

The Hyundai Ioniq, available as EV, HEV and PHEV.

PHEV

• Many models already have PHEV-variants (C, E, GLC, S, GLE) • New A-Class will be available as PHEV

H2

FUEL CELL

GLC F-Cell

• 3-lane powertrains strategy • Mix of combustion engines • Introduction of 48V-systems, plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles

• Announcements on technology solutions to be made in June 2018 • Investments in CNG-powertrains (12 models in 2018)

2019: Ford Transit PHEV available in Europe

Ioniq plug-in hybrid

Nexo to replace iX-35 F-Cell

• Every JLR-model will be (partly or completely) electrified from 2020 on

2018: Range Rover Plug-in P400e Optima, Niro

• Hyundai has always had a relatively low diesel engine share in its drivetrain mix.

In development No short-term plan for alternative drivetrains Nissan is developing a complete EV-ecosystem (V2G, Xstorage 2nd life battery development) Further development of combustion engine technology towards higher efficiency and lower fuel consumption and emissions.

General focus on electrification for LCV and passenger cars • Tesla Semi full electric truck announced, as well as a new roadster • Continued development of purely electric vehicles

• 30 PHEV-models by 2025 • Audi A3 & Q7 e-tron

• By 2030, every model of the VW-group will include at least one electrified version • Continued investments in CNG-models

2018 PHEV of XC60, S/V 90, XC90, V60

• 48V-technology will supplement all internal combustion wengines from 2019 on • Only 3 & 4 cylinder combustion engines

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DOSSIER

The power to reshape everything Dieter Quartier @DieterQuartier

WLTP is already leading to bloodshed as cars get a higher CO2 rating, even though the correlated NEDC value counts as a taxation basis. What is going on and how will OEMs respond?

15 to 20%

Bosch estimates that some 15 million 48-volt hybrid vehicles will be on the road by 2025.

Since 1 September 2017, the WLTP (Worldwide harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) is gradually replacing the outdated NEDC as the European type approval method for fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. For now, it is only the all-new models that are rated on a WLTP basis. However, by 1 September 2018, OEMs need to have switched to the WLTP for every new car they sell, including older models – with the exception of run-out stock.

INCREASE CO2 EMISSIONS

Mazda’s SkyActiv-X petrol engine uses compression to ignite, just like a diesel, resulting in higher torque and fuel efficiency.

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Because the WLTP involves a much more realistic driving cycle and takes into account optional equipment, this method translates into higher values. It is estimated that the ‘official’ consumption and therefore the CO2 emissions will increase on average by 15 to 20 percent. This would translate into higher taxes and therefore a competitive disadvantage over older NEDC type approved cars. That is why Europe developed the so-called CO2MPAS method as a transitional measure between September 2017 and January 2019.

UNPLEASANT SURPRISE This method converts the WLTP value, which is higher by definition, to a correlated NEDC value. The latter applies - until January 2019 at least - as a tax calculation basis in most EU member states. Indeed, car manufacturers today communicate two CO2 figures for their all-new models – and for the existing ones as soon as they switch to WLTP. This switch mostly coincides with a technical update in view of the Euro 6c emission standards. Instead of adopting WLTP in one swoop, OEMs take it step by step, until all of their cars are ‘converted’, by 1 September 2018 at the latest.

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THE NEW RANGE ROVER VELAR

LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS

Some prefer to listen to their heads, others their hearts.

But take a look at the stunning exterior silhouette, the perfect continuous waistline. Then consider Land Rover’s new engine technologies and body materials, which help deliver impressive fuel efficiency and low CO2 emissions from 142g/km. With the New Range Rover Velar, it appears you have the luxury of listening to both.

LOWER EMISSIONS From 142 g/km CO2 HIGHER FUEL ECONOMY Up to 5.4 l/100 km LONGER SERVICE INTERVALS 2 years or 34,000 km

landrover.com/fleetandbusiness

Official fuel consumption figures for the Range Rover Velar in l/100 km: Urban: 12.7–6.2, Extra urban 7.5–4.9, Combined 9.4–5.4.

CO2 emissions g/km: 287–142. Please drive responsibly on and off-road.

DOSSIER

THE OPINION OF YVES HELVEN, GLOBAL FLEET EXPERT: A major incentive for OEMs in the context of WLTP is the fact that potential fleet sales will be missed as many models will no longer fit the CO2 policies of the corporate customer. The corporate client is obviously unhappy at having to review car and brand policies; some have increased CO2 thresholds (and consequently the budgets), but most have, rightly so, decided not to move.

OEMs will most probably not review their short-term model/ engine development roadmap, but revert to marketing campaigns (discounts, packs, RV support) to make sure that production objectives can be reached. It wouldn’t be surprising either to see lobbying efforts intensified.

As many corporate clients have, however, planned to decrease the emission thresholds even further, this might have an impact on which vehicles/engines will be put forward as ‘fleet models’.

The OEMs will most probably integrate alternative powertrains into their fleet offering in order to be able to comply to the CO2 policies of their corporate clientele.

As the future of the ICE has been uncertain for longer than the WLTP storm, some OEMs (such as BMW) have developed flexible production lines that can build different powertrains on the same line. In other words,development will most probably not change much, but production volumes will.

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Sounds fair, doesn’t it? Well, in theory it does, but reality shows that these correlated NEDC values are much higher than expected. Updated models see their CO2 rating increase by 8 to 10 percent on average compared to their predecessors. An example: in March 2018, BMW introduced AdBlue to the bulk of its diesel engines to meet the emission standards and used the same occasion to switch to WLTP for the models involved. It turns out that the updated X1 1.6d now has a correlated, i.e.

WLTP-derived NEDC value of 118 g/km.

The 'old' 1.6d boasted a much more favourable (actual) NEDC value of 104 g/km.

STRETCHING VEHICLE CATEGORIES Indeed, WLTP has hit fleets – and the entire industry – a year before it was supposed to.

The correlated NEDC value came into being to ensure a smooth transition between the old NEDC and WLTP, but it seems that some models are about to face stormy weather.

And so are fleet managers and lease companies, confronted with the fact that some cars suddenly no longer fit the vehicle category, neither in terms of CO2 emissions, nor from a budget point of view.

What is the right strategy? Should companies simply adapt their vehicle categories and increase the budgets to keep their employees satisfied? Or should they stick to their car policy, forcing employees to downsize or downgrade? Perhaps there is an opportunity for OEMs offering hybrid and electric models, the TCO disadvantage of which may now become negligible or even non-existent.

STRATEGIC GAMES Every OEM faces the same painful facts, but the carmaker that waits the longest to switch to WLTP could have a (temporary) competitive advantage over its rivals. Take the example of BMW. It is one of the first carmakers to adopt the tougher standard for most of its diesel engines, putting most of its models, from the 1 Series to the 7 Series, in a less favourable CO2 position.

Remarkably, the plug-in hybrid models remain untouched for the time being.

It seems clear which powertrains the Bavarian OEM is pushing.

Carmakers that are likely to benefit from the transition to WLTP, are the ones that never really believed in downsizing, like Mazda. Indeed, small engines are the ones that will be put to shame the most by a more realistic driving cycle, perhaps losing their raison d’être.

It’s no coincidence that WLTP coincides with many OEMs introducing mild hybrid solutions. Onto existing powertrains are grafted a 48-volt battery and a startergenerator that can work as an electric motor, reducing consumption and emissions by roughly 10 percent. Other solutions include variable compression (Infiniti) and spark controlled compression ignition (Mazda SkyActiv X). Today, expensive technologies like these are starting to make economic sense.

FLEET EUROPE #96

ADVERTORIAL

CONCEDED EDITORIAL SPACE

New Kia Ceed Exceeding expectations!

The Kia Ceed in its first two versions – marked the launch of one of the most successful adventures in European motoring history: the emergence of Kia as a mainstream, sporty, stylish and high quality brand.

Just over a decade later, the latest edition of the Ceed takes all of the tried and tested benefits of its predecessors, adds a whole host of up to the minute driver and safety features, and wraps them all into an even more appealing, stylish, athletic design.

And like its predecessors, the new model has been designed, developed and engineered in Frankfurt by Kia’s European design, product development and R&D teams. It will be manufactured at the brand’s production facility in Žilina, Slovakia, alongside the Kia Sportage and Kia Venga, and like every other car in the Kia line-up, is covered by Kia’s industry-leading 7-Year, 150,000 kilometre warranty.

Occupying a unique position in the Kia line-up, Ceed is perceived by fleet managers and company cars drivers as the most dynamic and sporty vehicle to drive, while also being one of the most reliable, practical and recognisable. Aided by an expanded product offering, including Sportswagon and the arrival of GT and GT-Line variants, Kia’s C-segment line-up represents the ‘centre’ of the Kia brand.

UNDER THE BONNET:

• 1.0-litre T-GDi: 120 hp • 1.4-litre T-GDi : 140hp • New ‘U3’ 1.6-litre CRDi: 115 and 136hp • Six-speed manual gearbox • Optional 7-speed automatic on diesels

A FEW KEY FEATURES:

• High Beam Assist • Driver Attention Warning • Lane Keeping Assist • Forward Collision Warning • Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist • Smart Cruise Control • Stop & Go • Blind Spot Collision Warning • Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning • Smart Parking Assist • Pedestrian recognition • Kia Connected Services • Full smartphone integration • Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™ compatible.

MORE INFO www.kia.com/eu

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I care about choice.

A unique sporty five-door coupé.

The new Hyundai i30 Fastback.

For everything you care about.

You care about the dynamic image of your business. You care about agility and powerful, efficient performance. You care about comprehensive safety and state-of-the-art connectivity technologies. And, not least, you care about low operating costs and high residual values.

With its sleekly raked roofline, turbocharged petrol engines, advanced SmartSense driving assistance systems and our 5-year Unlimited Mileage Warranty, the new i30 Fastback delivers just about everything that you could care about. Discover more at Hyundai.com/eu

The Hyundai 5-year Unlimited Mileage Warranty applies only to Hyundai vehicles that have been originally sold by an authorised Hyundai dealer to an end customer, as set out in the terms and conditions of the warranty booklet.

Fuel consumption for the Hyundai i30 Fastback range: combined 5.2–5.7 l/100 km, CO2 emissions 120–134 g/km.

DOSSIER

The safest fleet Benjamin Uyttebroeck

Fully autonomous cars may still be some time ahead of us, the tech required to get there is already making cars safer than ever before. In this article, we list some of the more interesting recent developments in car safety.

AUDI: LEVEL 3, BUT NOT QUITE The Audi A8 is the first production car to be capable of offering level 3 self-driving status. At the moment, it is limited to level 2 (the same level Teslas are capable of) as they are trying to figure out legal and liability issues. According to Audi engineers, the car should be able to drive at speeds of up to 130km/h but this speed is limited to 60km/h.

The driving tech helps make Audis safer, improves the vehicles’ level 2 autonomy and includes a range of 12 ultrasonic sensors (front, sides and rear), four 360-degree cameras (front, wing mirrors and rear), four mid-range radars (on each corner), a long-range radar and a laser scanner (on the front).

HYUNDAI SANTA FE: NO MORE BACKSEAT DRAMAS The new Santa Fe is equipped with a Rear Occupant Alert, a system that monitors whether the rear seats are occupied and warns the driver when his passengers leave the car.

This system can help parents not forget a sleeping baby on the backseat. Additionally, Safety Exit Assist monitors whether it is safe for passengers to open the rear doors – if it is not, the door won’t open. The new SUV also includes an enhanced Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning system that warns the driver and that can automatically apply the brakes when reversing in areas with limi-ted visibility.

MASERATI ADOPTS ELECTRIC POWER STEERING Maseratis now includes electric power steering instead of the traditional hydraulic power steering.

This provides better handling and comfort but most importantly, it was a requirement to enable Advanced Driving Assistance Systems. The carmaker maintains it is not interested in developing self-driving systems but it does include ADAS systems that can make for a more relaxing drive on congested roads and on motorways.

These include lane keeping assist, blind spot assist, traffic sign recognition and others.

MERCEDES-BENZ USES MAP DATA TO ADJUST SPEED A new safety feature introduced in the 2018 A-Class is Pre-Safe Plus which can recognise an imminent rear-end collision and prevent it from happening. The new A-Class also comes with Active Distance Assist Distronic which maintains a set distance behind the vehicle in front and gives steering assistance, even in corners. It also uses map data to adjust the car’s speed approaching bends or roundabouts.

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DOSSIER

DOSSIER

Car2Home and Home2Car Benjamin Uyttebroeck PEUGEOT HAS INFRA-RED NIGHT VISION The new Peugeot 508 boasts a Night Vision system that uses an infra-red camera to detect living beings in front of the vehicle at night or in conditions with low visibility. The system works within a range up to around 250m, beyond the scope of the headlights. The infrared vision is displayed in the head-up display, in the driver’s field of vision. The 508 also features the usual safety equipment for its class such as adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking etc.

VOLVO STAYS BETWEEN THE LINES In its latest iteration, Volvo’s City Safety system, which recognises pedestrians, cyclists and large animals, can also brake automatically. The Pilot Assist system, which assists drivers on well-marked roads at speeds up to 130km/h with steering, accelerating and braking, has also been improved, particularly in bends.

Volvo is also introducing Run-off Mitigation in its latest models such as the V60 and the 90-Series. On wellmarked roads, the vehicle detects when you risk crossing the side of the road. Depending on the settings, the car will steer away from the side of the road or it will steer away and apply the brake if needed.

Accessing your car’s status details through an app or a web platform is almost expected in new cars.

Increasingly, cars will interact with other cars, with road infrastructure and with your smart home.

BMW CARDATA LEVERAGE TELEMATICS DATA BMW CarData collects the vehicle’s data about mileage, fuel consumption, tyre pressure and sends this data to secure BMW servers. From there, service providers can access the encrypted data if the customer has agreed with this use in the ConnectedDrive portal.

Service providers such as garages, insurance companies and fleet managers can also register with BMW CarData.

If customers consent to the release of their telematics data, the requesting companies receive the data they need, allowing insurance companies, for instance, to calculate their pay-as-you-drive policies accurately.

The Swedish car maker is continuing on its path to completely eliminate serious injuries or deaths in any Volvo by 2020.

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DOSSIER

MERCEDES-BENZ: “HEY, MERCEDES!” Mercedes-Benz’s latest party trick is familiar to anyone with a modern smartphone. You say “Hey, Mercedes” to activate the voice assistant and control the car’s satnav, stereo, climate control or your phone. Even without this voice command, the MBUX system is impressive. It is first introduced on the 2018 A-Class and will roll out to other Mercedes cars later.

Connectivity is important to get replies but the system is capable of a lot when you’re not connected to the cloud. The smart assistant uses AI and will improve over time.

The system can receive warnings about bad roads or emergency vehicles driving past. More traditional services are included, too, such as vehicle location, petrol prices and over-the-air updates that bring new functionality.

FORD AND THE BOX OF LEGOS Ford launched the Transportation Mobility Cloud (TMC), an open cloud-based platform that can manage information flow and basic transactions between a variety of components in the transportation ecosystem, ranging from service providers to personal vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, public transport systems and city infrastructure such as traffic lights and car parks. This platform has been developed with Ford subsidiary Autonomic, a Silicon Valley-based tech company with broad experience in cloud-based systems and machine learning.

Ford describes TMC as a “box of Legos” that can easily be taken apart and reassembled to build new products and services, like an app store. The system could be capable of rerouting autonomous vehicles around the most congested roads or limiting certain areas in a city to EVs in order to combat pollution peaks.

VOLVO ON CALL Volvo’s On Call app can help drivers find their car in a car park, find the nearest filling station and access status information about their vehicle. In selected markets, Volvo In-Car Delivery will enable delivery companies to deliver packages directly in the car boot. More markets will be added in the future.

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JAGUAR/LAND ROVER COME FULL CIRCLE Jaguar and Land Rover’s InControl infotainment systems are based on a central touch screen and a driver display to which a layer of smartphone connectivity can be added.

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay aren’t supported but JLR offer a range of InControl apps, including Spotify.

Drivers can use the app to interact with their car. Preheating your car or planning a route on your phone and sending it to the car are just some of the features.

In early 2018, JLR announced a collaboration with Qualcomm and Gentex to enable future cars to control your smart home from the infotainment system. The HomeLink Connect app will connect the smart home and the car seamlessly.

Technology has come full circle: you can control your home from your car and your car from your home.

VOLKSWAGEN FLEETCONNECTED FleetCONNECTED is developed by CarMobility, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Financial Services. It collects data about the car and sends it to a web portal where it can be accessed and analysed.

VW also launched ConnectedVan, a telematics tool designed to simplify fleet managed. It consists of a DataPlug that can be installed in most commercial vehicles from 2008 and that transmits vehicle data over Bluetooth to a smartphone app. The same information can also be accessed and analysed through a web portal.

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DOSSIER

Keep calm and diesel on Dieter Quartier @DieterQuartier

Euro 6c/d standards ensure NOx and PM emissions are a fraction of what they used to be. Even most Low Emission Zones won’t ban them in 2025. Time to restore your faith?

which makes sure nitrogen oxide emissions are contained effectively and not just theoretically.

LEZ: EURO 6 WELCOME Many large metropolitan areas are introducing a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) or even an Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to fight the consequences of traffic-related air pollution. That is one of the reasons for companies to rethink their fleet policy. Still, there is no reason to panic. Even the strictest of European LEZs will still allow Euro 6 diesels until 2025. In fact, most of them won’t even deny them access after that year.

Many experts agree that diesel does not deserve the cold shoulder it is given today. A correction in the petrol-diesel balance was unquestionably necessary, but that does not mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. OEMs have been investing billions of euros in the development of emission-reducing technology, making the latest diesels cleaner than ever before.

In fact, the implementation of the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test on 1 September 2017 has put a lid on new diesel cars’ NOx emissions. The threshold value of 80 mg/ km is still the same as the one applied in September 2014, when the Euro 6 standard took effect. But that value was only verified in lab conditions, not in the real world, and sure enough, studies showed appalling deviations. Hence the creation of RDE,

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Considering that the average lease cycle of a car is 3.5 years, companies can still replace their current cars with new diesels, and again in 2021. Even if some cities will have closed their gates to all diesel vehicles by then, that does not take away the fact that diesels could remain the best long-distance runners both economically and ecologically.

The latter case certainly applies to larger and heavier vehicles, such as SUVs; petrol engines hate mass and resistance and make you understand that by consuming heavily when confronted with either one of them.

THE CURE CALLED PETROL The extra technology that the latest diesels carry does indeed come at a price. Compared to a Euro 4 diesel engine, a Euro 6 one costs more than twice as much to build. Together with the declining cost advantage of diesel as a fuel compared to petrol, this will inevitably lead to the demise of diesel in smaller cars. In fact, Skoda removed diesel from its Fabia line-up on the occasion of the model’s midlife facelift.

However, petrol engines, too, are becoming dearer generation by generation. First, because they are all switching to high-pressure direct injection, variable valve lift and timing, and turbocharging. Moreover, FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER

a study performed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre shows that direct-injection petrol engines emit up to 100 times more particulate matter than indirect-injection units. That means that petrol engines, too, need particulate filters to stay within the RDE limits, further increasing their production cost.

In some cases, small-capacity turbocharged direct-injection petrol engines even emit more particulate matter and NOx (!) than the equivalent diesel model.

Worse still, the particles emitted by petrol engines are much smaller – even smaller than a virus, meaning they largely remain undetected and have an alarming capacity to transport toxic metals and hydrocarbons directly into the body through the lungs. In conclusion, petrol is not the cure-all for all emission issues.

DO OEMS NEED DIESEL? To drastically lower their vehicle line-up’s CO2 emissions and meet the 95g/km target, car makers still can’t do without diesel today. That is all the more true with the introduction of WLTP. Diesels remain 20 to 25 percent more fuel efficient than their petrol peers. Also, most of the R&D budget has gone into getting diesels to comply with the emission standards. OEMs need to sell enough units to spread these costs.

Another way to lower your line-up’s weighted average is to massively promote plug-in hybrid cars, like BMW and Volvo have been doing. But they are still more expensive to produce and do not fit everybody’s budget, meaning they can never sell in the same numbers as diesel-powered engines. Mild (48 volt) hybrids – either diesel or petrol-based – do not offer the same emission-reducing potential, but they are much cheaper to build and expected to become the norm by 2020.

DROPPING RESIDUALS Another reason why diesel faces detraction is the fact that leasing companies have been adjusting their residual values. But is this a logical and justified reaction? They might be having a tough time selling Euro 5 diesel-powered off-lease vehicles today, but that does not necessarily mean that Euro 6 diesels entering their service cycle today will face similar difficulties when they are ready for remarketing by the beginning of the next decade.

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Direct-injection petrol engines are not a cure-all: they also produce particulate matter.

Likewise, even if petrol-powered used cars are selling at higher prices than before due to low supply and high demand, there is no guarantee that this trend will continue over the coming years. The corrections that the used car market is experiencing today are expected to level out already this year.

In some countries, the RV corrections have been marginal to begin with, incidentally.

BELIEVERS, NAYSAYERS AND DOUBTERS None of the car manufacturers we asked to give their view on the future of diesel gave a clear answer. The only conclusion to be drawn is that nobody dares to take a stance today, uncertain of what the near future will bring and how the market and legislators will respond to further health studies and investigations.

What most car manufacturers agree on, is that electrification is the way forward and that various powertrain solutions will coexist. Diesel has a role to play, but is likely to be confined to the more expensive and heavier cars.

EURO 6 DIESEL YES • Most LEZs won’t ban them, not even in 2025 • NOx is well contained since Euro 6c/RDE • They emit less CO2 • They remain the best long-distance runners

NO • They are more expensive to build • They require more maintenance • They are noisier • They require AdBlue topups

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ŠKODA 4×4 With this range Your fleet is unstoppable

The ŠKODA 4×4 range with its intelligent all-wheel drive offers great traction and stability in any driving condition. The sophisticated system constantly judges the terrain under each wheel and rearranges the power distribution within milliseconds, without you ever noticing it.

So whatever your needs, you can stick to a ŠKODA while it sticks to the road. www.skoda-auto.com

SIMPLY CLEVER

Combined fuel consumption and CO2 emissions according to the legislation of the concerned country

DOSSIER

Chinese disruption at last Dieter Quartier @DieterQuartier

Previous attempts by Chinese manufacturers to enter the European market have failed.

Newcomers Borgward and Lynk & Co, however, have much more up their sleeve than just cheap cars.

Borgward BXi7

BORGWARD BXi7: E-SUV ‘MADE IN GERMANY’ Next year, Borgward wants to market an all-electric version of the BX7. This BXi7 would be assembled in its native Bremen, with parts shipped from China. That could certainly add to the credibility of the product.

A similar approach is taken

by Tesla, incidentally, which sends ready-to-assemble kits from California to Tilburg, the Netherlands, in a bid to reduce import tax.

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Visitors to the 2017 Frankfurt motor show will agree that the Chinese OEMs present made far from a laughable impression. Wey, the ‘Lexus’ division of China’s number one SUV builder Great Wall, showed a handful of convincing crossovers, some of which are already on the market in its home country.

At least as impressive were the products of the state-owned Chery, which wants to conquer both Europe and the U.S. with electrified sporty SUVs. But their offensive won’t start before 2020.

By then, two other Chinese OEMs hope to have already made an impact on the Old Continent. The first one is Borgward – a name that indeed sounds more German than Chinese. In fact, it is a German company that turned to Chinese investors to rise from its ashes. The second one, Lynk & Co, is backed by a group that gave Volvo Cars the financial and technological means to become what it is today and that is showing a keen interest in becoming a majority holder of Daimler stock: Geely.

GERMAN ROOTS, CHINESE PUSH Not many know that halfway through the previous century, Bremen-based Borgward was the second largest vehicle manufacturer in Germany. Between 1939 and 1963, the year in ceased its activities, it had produced over one million cars. In 2008, Christian Borgward, grandson of founder Carl F.W., and his partner Karlheinz L. Knöss, persuaded Chinese truck builder Foton to help them revive the brand. It was then that the development of the first new car, the BX7, was started.

In 2015, the final product was shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show: a rather goodlooking midsized SUV with a premium feel to it, designed in Europe and built by Foton in Beijing. Indeed, the first market for Borgward had to be China, where production is cheap, the potential higher and type approval less fussy. Sales started in July 2016 and a year and a half later, Borgward has produced some 50,000 cars, the equivalent of 0.18 percent of the market.

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SALES THROUGH SIXT, SERVICE THROUGH ATU The next step is to get the car on the market in Europe, starting with Germany. In July 2017, Borgward received the official EU type approval for the BX7. That does not necessarily mean that it is on a par with its European and Asian competitors in terms of safety – an aspect so blatantly neglected by previous Chinese invaders. Still, the company asked TÜV Rheinland to crash the BX7 frontally into a deformable barrier with a 40 percent overlap, according to EuroNCAP requirements. It passed this particular test, but a full EuroNCAP assessment is yet to be performed.

Rather than building a distribution network across the continent, Borgward decided to work together with online retailers. In Germany, customers can already buy the Chinese-built SUV through Sixt Neuwagen.

Servicing will be done by ATU, the German vehicle maintenance network belonging to the French Mobivia Group. Similar arrangements are allegedly in the works for other major European markets.

LYNK & CO: BEYOND THE CAR The Geely-owned brand-new Lynk & Co has a totally different story to tell. Thanks to sister company Volvo, the brand has access to all the technology it needs to bring a convincing product to market – including in terms of advanced safety features. The recently launched ‘01’ sits on the XC40’s CMA platform and should be equally premium, yet very different from its Swedish cousin, not least concerning the sales approach and the (connected) services around it.

Lynk & Co interior

monthly cellphone plan includes a number of minutes, data and a selection of phones to choose from, the Lynk & Co fee includes a certain number of miles, connected services and a collection of cars put at your disposal.

“Connectivity is the absolute essence of our brand”, said Alain Visser, senior vice president of Lynk & Co, which clearly wants to appeal to the smartphone generation. The dashboard of the ‘01’ indeed looks like a high-end touchscreen, but not oversized like a Tesla's. Lynk & Co launched in China in November 2017. European customers will have to wait until 2019.

LYNK & CO ‘01’: PROBABLY “MADE IN BELGIUM” No decision has been taken yet, but chances are that the Ghentbased Volvo factory in Belgium will become one of the sites outside China where the ‘01‘ will be assembled. That would make perfect sense, as the technologically related XC40 also rolls off Volvo’s Belgian production line – the second largest after Gothenburg.

Customers don’t have to go to Lynk & Co: Lynk & Co comes to them. Simplicity and convenience is key. That is why, apart from a few experience centres, there will be no sales outlets: you are expected to buy your car online. Directly, without negotiation.

You just click & order. After confirming the order, the car is delivered to your doorstep.

In terms of maintenance and repair, nothing has been decided yet. Will Volvo dealers have a part in Lynk & Co’s after sales business?

FOR THE SMARTPHONE GENERATION Lynk & Co reckons that their customers do not necessarily want to own the car.

Instead, they prefer a monthly subscription, just like with a smartphone. Just as a FLEET EUROPE #96

Lynk & Co

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DOSSIER

Competitive and rewarding B2E Frank Jacobs

Private lease is booming, and it's not just the leasing companies which have noticed. Increasingly, manufacturers are getting in to the game, for example by offering B2E schemes.

B2E (‘Business to Employee’) leasing is an interesting concept. While formally an extension of the concept of providing lease solutions directly to the end-customer (B2C), the formula benefits from its proximity to the classic B2B channel.

MAIN ADVANTAGES Two main advantages are solvency and scalability, especially when such offers can be included in the mobility budgets that many companies are offering their employees.

In fact, B2E leasing is predicted to boom, thanks to the convergence of two main trends: on the corporate side, the move from fleet to mobility management; and on the customer side, the move from car ownership to vehicle usership.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY Well-placed in the market as they are, lease companies have been the first to sniff out the market opportunity of private lease in general, and B2E schemes in particular. If OEMs are a step behind, the power of their massive, worldwide networks could soon shift the balance in their favour.

Obviously, those OEMs with well-developed captive leasing subsidiaries are a step ahead of the rest. Take for instance Daimler’s leasing subsidiary Athlon, which not only offers mobility solutions to employees of corporate customers (including mobility budgets and mobility cards), but also – at least in some markets - provides long-term rental products for employees without a company-car entitlement.

ring programme – offering Athlon customers a wide range of options to choose from (and offer to their employees).

But Daimler is not alone. FCA, for example, also offers private leases, and/or special conditions to FCA-preferred partners and their employees.

The practice is not yet widespread among manufacturers, and they are toying with the formula in safe markets. Ford is starting up B2E offers in the Netherlands, for instance – one of the world’s most advanced markets when it comes to private leasing. Hyundai also offer B2E schemes in the Netherlands, but also in Italy and Poland, among others.

ULTIMATE BENEFICIARIES Many others, from major brands like Volvo to niche players like Maserati, are designing and testing B2E formulas in selected markets across the world. As one manufacturer put it, “we recognise this is a very competitive but potentially highly rewarding market.”

The ultimate beneficiaries will be the customers, who will not just include the drivers themselves, but also the companies, which would be able to select ever better vehicle leasing schemes with which to lure in new talent or continue to keep valuable employees happy.

WIDE RANGE This B2E solution complements other solutions, such as Athlon’s corporate car-sha-

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FLEET EUROPE #96

The new Opel

insignia German Technology for Everyone 

Safety first: IntelliLux LED® Matrix headlights, Opel OnStar and advanced safety systems

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Full transparency: addressing real-life fuel consumption (WLTP driving cycle) and OnStar fleet manager portal

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Leading its category: state-of-the-art innovations and premium-class features

Fuel consumption combined 11.2–3.6 l/100 km; CO2 emissions combined 197–105 g/km (according to R (EC) No. 715/2007).

Picture shows optional equipment and Exclusive trim.

Availability depends on local market offer.

DOSSIER

To externalise or not to externalise Stijn Blanckaert

Today, almost all OEMs offer leasing solutions to their customers. Some have integrated the leasing organisation into their company structure, others rely on external partners in so-called ‘white labels’.

An overview.

OEMS DOING IT THEMSELVES A good example of OEMs taking matters into their own hands is Daimler. By analogy with BMW and Alphabet, it acquired formerly bank-owned leasing company Athlon and combined it with Daimler Fleet Management to offer international multibrand fleet leasing solutions. So when you lease through Athlon, you participate in the turnover of mother company Daimler, as you do for BMW Group when ordering a car at Alphabet.

At FiatChryslerAutomobiles, FCA Bank Group owns Leasys, which is one of the top players in Italy and is now expanding throughout Europe offering full service leasing for private and professional customers. Maserati also works with Leasys.

The Renault, Mitsubishi and Nissan alliance works with RCI Bank and Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renault, present in 36 countries supporting the development of Groupe Renault companies (Renault, Renault Samsung Motors, Dacia)

WHY DO OEMS OFFER CAPTIVE LEASING? OEMs are interested in proposing their own leasing solutions not only to support sales, but also to push other leasing companies to offer interesting leasing prices for their brands. If the OEM's captive is competitively priced, which is mostly the case because of the sponsoring of residual values and operational aspects by the brand’s marketing means, the competitors will have no choice but to be competitive for these brands as well, because of the risk of losing customers to the captive if their prices are seen as too high.

By owning multi-brand leasing companies such as Alphabet (BMW) and Athlon (Daimler), OEMs diversify their activities, have a way of positioning themselves in multi-brand fleets and even profit from the leasing contracts signed for other brands, adding to the profitability of their own leasing company.

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and Nissan group firms (Nissan, Infiniti, Datsun).

European market leader Volkswagen (with Audi, Seat and Skoda) owns Volkswagen Financial Services, offering financing, leasing, insurance and fleet management worldwide. Though Volkswagen was formerly a majority shareholder of LeasePlan, that participation was sold in 2015 and the return has been invested in VW Financial Services.

PSA Group, with Peugeot, Citroën and DS, owns Free2Move Lease, a leasing subsidiary offering captive B2B leasing solutions, and also has its own bank called Banque PSA Finance. For the moment, Opel and Vauxhall are not integrated into PSA’s Free2Move-offering. The two ex-GM brands have their own financial organisation, Opel Vauxhall Finance, a joint venture between BNP Paribas and Groupe PSA. OEMS PARTNERING WITH LEASING COMPANIES (WHITE LABEL) OEMs that do not want to go all the way in acquiring or setting up their own financing organisation can choose to work with leasing companies in white label-operations. That is the case at Ford, for example, where financial and full leasing are offered under the name ‘Ford Lease’, in cooperation with ALD Automotive.

Kia is another brand that teams up with ALD. It also has partnerships with Arval.

Jaguar Land Rover offers its financial services solutions in every European national sales company through external partners: FCA Bank for wholesale and retail and ALD Automotive for commercial and fleet customers.

FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER

BMW headquarters. BMW owns multi-brand leasing company Alphabet.

At Volvo, leasing is offered under different trading names in different countries, with for example Santander Consumer Finance (SCF) in the UK and the Netherlands.

OEMS OFFERING BOTH SOLUTIONS Some brands choose to go both ways. An example is Hyundai, which not only has an integrated leasing structure through Hyundai Capital Europe but also offers white label campaigns with different leasing companies in Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal among others.

A special case is Tesla. The EV-maker says it works with all leasing companies on the same basis, with an identical price and total package, so customers can choose the leasing provider that best fits their needs.

FLEET EUROPE #96

WHITE LABELS OR OWN LEASING What are the advantages of working with one or the other? Fleet Europe asked expert Andre Latendorf of Latendorf Organisational Development in Germany.

FOR THE CUSTOMER “From the viewpoint of the customer, the advantage of using a multi-brand leasing company like Athlon, Leaseplan or ALD rather than a captive is that he does not have to commit to any brand in particular and can use the services of a car fleet management specialist enjoying the flexibility and possibility to change brands quickly if needed.

If the customer really has a preference for a certain brand, however, (or group of brands), a captive leasing company can be a good choice, because it provides brand-specific services and often also has a price advantage thanks to the OEM-sponsoring of the leasing prices.”

“So, if flexibility and the possibility to choose brands are priorities, multi-brand leasing companies could be the better choice. If there are clear brand preferences for the fleet, the captive solution might offer more advantages. Whether that captive is

white label or brand owned, doesn’t make a great difference for the customer, who will in both cases get a brand-dedicated service.”

FOR THE CARMAKER “From the carmaker’s point of view, creating an in-brand leasing company is a big investment, necessitating funds, people and material resources, so using a white label might be an interesting way to rapidly put in place a less costly solution, although the potential profit is lower because a part of the operational margin is going to the white label.”

“If a brand already has its own leasing company in other countries, as is the case with Leasys for FCA, it is of course less of a burden to start one in a new country, because of the possibility to share back-office and software, but for lower volume brands, using a white label solution will almost certainly remain the more economical option.”

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DOSSIER

No future without private lease Frank Jacobs

Strictly B2B, via captive subsidiaries: that was the OEM approach to leasing. But manufacturers are getting into the private lease game – for fear of being left behind by a profound culture shift.

In mature lease markets, much of the growth is in private leasing. Two recent examples: 60% of overall fleet growth in the Netherlands in 2017 (+9.3% vs. the previous year) was generated by private lease contracts (i.e. about 43,900 vehicles). In the same year, 10,000 consumers in Belgium opted for leasing instead of owning a car.

Private lease represents about 6% of the total leased fleet in Belgium.

60 %

OF FLEET GROWTH IN THE NETHERLANDS VIA PRIVATE LEASE

PERFECT STORM But here's the thing: much of that growth in private leases is driven by the consumers themselves – not by companies. In other words: B2C, not B2E. Yet a perfect storm of changing consumer preferences and shifting business practices means that the corporate channel may be where the private (or rather, in that case: personal) leasing reaches it maximum potential.

The changing consumer preference from ownership to usership is well documented.

It's the Netflix model: a monthly fix for a bundle of services, without any time- or money-consuming hassle.

PURELY CONSUMERIST When it comes to vehicles, those consumers who are most aware of TCO, wholelife costs and aversion of risk tend towards private leasing formulas. Essentially, for private consumers too, leasing instead of buying means leaving it to the professionals to get the best deals on the vehicles themselves, on the service, maintenance

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and repair costs involved during their primary lifetime, and on the residual value once that lifetime is over.

That rationale for private leasing does not per se include a corporate angle, but even from a purely consumerist point of view, leveraging corporate size and expertise makes sense – by avoiding the hassle of credit checks and large deposits, and by keeping the monthly lease fee as low as possible.

CORPORATE SIDE Mentalities have also travelled far on the corporate side of the fence. It's no longer just about providing company vehicles to the chosen few, increasingly it's about enabling mobility for many, if not all employees.

Hence the rise of a range of options, including salary sacrifice schemes, cafeteria plans and mobility budgets. What all these related solutions have in common, is the 'personal' angle: companies are happy to facilitate and introduce, but essentially, they pass the responsibility on to the employee, who gets to craft their own relationship with a variety of mobility providers.

GREAT POTENTIAL But even though corporations may choose to outsource the mobility relationship to a direct one between employee and provider, eventually they want to exert some control over the choice of mobility options.

FLEET EUROPE #96

DOSSIER

The increasing popularity of private lease is driven by the consumers and less by companies.

This is where the great potential of B2E kicks in: these programmes offer companies more control than mere cash allowances do, allowing them to align vehicle choice with their own (multimodal) mobility plan. On the other hand, for drivers, B2E solutions compensate a more limited choice of vehicle with a potentially higher standard when it comes to the vehicle's cost and ecological performance.

FISCAL REASONS Employers can also stay involved, for fiscal reasons for example with salary sacrifice schemes – the employee gives up part of their pre-tax salary, and the employer uses the savings to fund the car. The employee pays less income tax, employer pays less social security contributions.

Feasibility considerations on the employer side include the question whether cash allowances will rise in line with pay rises, and how to extend the (moral) duty of care to grey fleet drivers. Legal enforcement on both matters varies from country to country (and changes often).

studies indicate their applicability may be limited: people are not prepared to switch mobility modes more than twice on a single journey.

Personal leasing solutions have the potential to dramatically widen the base of leased fleets – yet for drivers, the difference with a 'traditional' company car lease is to a large extent academic. They pay a monthly fix, the lessor provides services and assumes risk.

MORE EFFICIENT One crucial difference – and one with a potentially huge effect on the leasing market as a whole: private/personal lease cars will be smaller, more efficient and cheaper than traditional company cars.

And that's logical: employees will be converting their own money into mobility, and will choose the most economical option. Whatever's left of their budget may then be used to maximise access to other mobility modes, within the framework of a corporate Mobility as a Service setup.

RANGE AND USAGE So that's the outline of the corporate mobility of the future: more flexible, more user-centric, but still to a large extent based on the car. Multimodal solutions will certainly increase in range and usage, but FLEET EUROPE #96

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INNOVATION

This is your fleet tomorrow Dieter Quartier @DieterQuartier

Gims Swiss a.k.a. the Geneva Motor Show is about visions of the future, but also about ordinary cars available at a dealer near you very soon. Fleet Europe has selected the ones you should get acquainted with to update your car policy.

Audi A6 The fifth generation of the four-ringed executive saloon takes a giant leap forward in terms of connectivity, human-machine interface and autonomous driving. A 48-volt system increases efficiency and adds convenience features.

BMW X4 The X6’s baby brother has enhanced its driving dynamics and introduces state-of-the-art driver assistance systems together with the latest BMW ConnectedDrive functions. And it looks better, too.

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CitroĂŤn Berlingo/Peugeot Rifter The successful Leisure Activity Vehicles from PSA are now available as an M or an XL version, the latter offering 2 extra seats in the back, or 1,050 litres of cargo space if 5 seats suffice.

FLEET EUROPE #96

INNOVATION

Hyundai Santa Fe The South-Korean 7-seater SUV offers more space, enhanced connectivity features and additional ADAS. A true innovation is the Rear Occupant Alert, which warns the driver of any remaining passengers when he locks the vehicle.

Hyundai Kona Electric This compact SUV carries a 64-kWh battery yielding 470 km of WLTP range. That makes it the electric car with the longest range on the market, outperforming Tesla and all others.

Jaguar i-Pace Time for Tesla to move over: Jaguar introduces the all-electric i-Pace, the 90 kWh battery of which gets you 400 km from home (WLTP). With a length of 4.68 meters, it offers room for 5 and 530 litres of cargo space.

KIA Ceed The new 5-door hatchback is based on the Hyundai i30 and shares 99 % of its technology with the latter. Still, it speaks its own design language. It is the first KIA to offer semiautonomous driving capabilities

Lexus UX What the NX is to the Toyota RAV4, the UX is to the Toyota C-HR. The main rival Lexus’ new baby SUV shoots its arrows at, is the popular BMW X1. The UX’s main USPs? Strong design and a hybrid powertrain.

Mazda6 The Japanese D-segment saloon and estate got a CX-5-style makeover, both on the outside and in the interior. The radarcontrolled cruise control gains a traffic jam assist, meaning that it can bring the car to a full stop and re-accelerate autonomously.

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INNOVATION

Mercedes-Benz A-Class Hardly ever has a model renewal been so revolutionary. The interior brings an entirely new digital user experience (MBUX), while pampering the occupants with materials and features trickled down from the E-Class.

Mercedes-Benz C-Class While BMW is preparing the next-gen 3 Series, Mercedes takes a head start with the revamped C-Class. Here too, E-Class technology lifts the car to new heights in its segment.

Peugeot 508 The French D-segment model has transformed into such a sexy driving machine that they might as well have called it 609. It sheds 70 kilos and adopts the revolutionary i-Cockpit introduced in the 308.

Skoda Fabia No more diesel, only three-cylinder petrol engines for the redesigned Czech B-segment hatch and estate. The central display becomes more ‘connected’ and gains smartphone mirroring functionality.

Toyota Auris The third generation Auris features a more dynamic exterior design and, with a brand new 2.0 litre full hybrid powertrain joining the engine line-up, marking the debut of Toyota’s dual hybrid strategy.

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Volvo V60 The new model is almost as spacious as the discontinued V70 and borrows most of its technology from the 90-Series. There are two plug-in hybrid models to choose from. The Cross Country derivative will follow shortly.

FLEET EUROPE #96

TAKE THE OFFICE ANYWHERE

SMARTER STORAGE

CONNECTIVITY ON THE MOVE

INTRODUCING THE NEW VOLVO XC40 The employees of the modern workforce understand that successful business requires innovation and flexibility. So we created a compact SUV that is just as progressive as they are. With pioneering smart storage solutions and connected services including Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto, the new XC40 will inspire your drivers’ productivity above and beyond their time in the office.

EMAIL GLOBALFLEET@VOLVOCARS.COM OR CALL 00 46 313258377

Official fuel consumption for the new Volvo XC40 range in l/100km: Urban 10 – 5.7, Extra Urban 6.4 – 4.6, Combined 7.7 – 5.0.

CO2 emissions 178 – 131g/km. Fuel consumption figures are obtained from laboratory testing intended for comparisons between vehicles and may not reflect real driving results. Models may vary depending on market.

Why delivery is going social Frank Jacobs

The first and last kilometres have always been the weakest link in the delivery chain.

Now mobility startups are changing that, with Uber-like delivery services and a principle called 'crowdshipping', a.k.a. ‘social delivery’.

Solutions for the first-and-last-kilometre problem.

In 2017, global retail e-commerce rose 23.2% to $2.29 (€1.85) trillion. For the first time, e-commerce sales accounted for onetenth of total retail sales worldwide. No wonder: it is convenient, customer-centred and cheap.

The rise in e-commerce is atomising the delivery industry. While national postal carriers and traditional courier services still control 90% of the market (food deliveries excluded), hundreds of start-ups are hungry for a piece of the cake.

tions, giving rise to comparisons with the Uber business model, and to terms such as ‘social delivery’ and ‘crowdshipping’.

The combined power of Big Data, geolocation and the sharing principle will continue to make deliveries smarter, faster – and cheaper. Here’s a sample of the startups which are disrupting the market and changing the way customers and corporates place and receive their orders.

They are doing this by finding novel solutions for the first-and-last-kilometre problem. Many involve peer-to-peer solu-

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FLEET EUROPE #96

SMARTMOBILITY

https://glovoapp.com SLOGAN: ‘Anything you want, delivered in minutes’ HOW: An on-demand service that buys, collects and delivers anything ordered through the app or website. Popular categories include food, pharmaceuticals, groceries and packages. Customers can follow the progress of the delivery in real time. The service is typically carried out within the hour by independent cycle or bike couriers, called 'Glovers'.

HOW: Customers place food orders with local restaurants via Deliveroo's app or website, after which self-employed couriers deliver them to the address specified (home, office, etc.) The money is made by charging the restaurants a commission fee and the customers a delivery fee. From November 2017, UK customers can subscribe to Deliveroo Plus, which provides unlimited free delivery.

WHERE: Founded in London in 2013, Deliveroo currently operates in 200 cities throughout the UK and the rest of Europe, plus Australia, Singapore, the UAE and Hong Kong. In November 2017, Deloitte named Deliveroo the UK's fastestgrowing tech company of the year.

WHERE: Founded in Barcelona in 2015, Glovo has already raised more than €37 million in three rounds of funding and is now available in various cities throughout Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Chile, Argentina and Peru.

SLOGAN: ‘Delivery by trusted and verified travellers’

SLOGAN: ‘Transport parcels, get free fuel’ HOW: Drivers are rewarded for picking up packages at one fuel station and dropping them off at another. They use an app to check if there are packages with locations and destinations compatible to their own. Around five packages equals enough points to earn back the fuel cost.

Senders pay less for their packages than via other delivery services, and can pick them up in a fuel station that is nearby, has long opening hours and short queues.

HOW: PiggyBee connects people who want something shipped to them with travellers who follow the same route. The 'something' can be almost anything, the route can be local, domestic or international. Both parties discuss prices and tipping beforehand, the item is paid for via a secure module and insured, the traveller is paid after delivery and rated by the customer.

WHERE: In operation since 2012, PiggyBee has over 15,000 users, transporting items worldwide – from Israel to Australia, from the U.S. to Beijing, and anywhere in between.

WHERE: The service is currently available in three Belgian cities (Antwerp, Brussels, Liège) but will expand soon. www.nimber.com SLOGAN: ‘Ship anything, anywhere, anytime’ https://deliveroo.co.uk SLOGAN: ‘Your favourite restaurants, delivered fast to your door’

FLEET EUROPE #96

WHERE: Launched in Norway in 2013, Nimber has its headquarters in the UK. Those two countries are its main markets, but the company also has offices in Athens and California – and the system works worldwide, across all modes of transport.

www.weengs.co.uk SLOGAN: ‘The future of shipping’

www.piggybee.com

www.hytchers.com

loading capacity. Negotiate until the price is right, and the item is on its way.

Bringers are reviewed, shipments are insured. Nimber4biz is the last-mile solution for retailers.

HOW: Got a bulky shipment? Post it on the Nimber platform, which will link you to ‘bringers’ – i.e. persons going the way of your item who have spare

HOW: Where traditional shipping companies expect you to pack and prepare the paperwork for your shipment, Weengs takes care of the whole process: it collects your item unpacked, creates a fitting box to reduce shipping cost and takes care of all the formalities.

This saves small businesses which do a lot of shipping significant amounts of time and money.

WHERE: Launched in London in 2015, Weengs has handled over 200,000 orders, from the UK to anywhere in the world.

www.notime.ch SLOGAN: ‘We will deliver precisely at the time your customers choose’ HOW: Notime offers both instant, sameday delivery, and delivery-on-demand, whenever it is most convenient for the customer. The system can easily be linked to online shopping systems.

WHERE: Founded in Switzerland in 2014, Notime has operations and partnerships in the Swiss home market and in South Africa.

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Carpooling: unknown but loved Frank Jacobs

Carpooling is hard to define or quantify. But its popularity and impact are rising. So much so that Uber and other big players are getting ready to conquer the European carpool market, predicts Angelo Meuleman, Shared Mobility Consultant at Taxistop.

Carpooling is not new. Since the Oil Crisis of the 1970s, it’s been promoted via so-called Hight-Occupancy Vehicle lanes. Yet in the boom of shared mobility innovations, it remains the great unknown, says Angelo Meuleman. “It’s less visible because there is no ‘hardware’”.

Angelo MEULEMAN, Shared Mobility Taxistop “Carpooling not so young in Europe”

FUZZY BORDER From a commercial perspective, car-pooling is much harder to monetise than car-sharing. And from a traffic management perspective, carpooling falls between car ownership and public transport. Add the fuzzy border with ride-sharing (see box) and you see why it’s so hard to get to grips with carpooling.

“Historically, carpooling has been arranged informally, between co-workers”, Angelo Meuleman goes on. “Especially at workplaces with shift systems. Carpooling is less popular with office workers, because they can work flexibly. On the other hand, if they carpool, they’re more likely to use online tools like the ones provided by Taxistop”.

FISCAL BENEFIT Taxistop is a Belgian umbrella organisation offering a variety of solutions, not just for

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carpooling (via its popular tool carpool.be, and niche solutions schoolpool, eventpool and eurostop) but also for car-sharing, and more.

But even for Taxistop, it’s hard to get a clear picture of the sector’s size. “The share of Belgians for whom car-pooling is the ‘main mode of commuting’ is virtually static, at 4.5%. But that’s the wrong way of looking at it. People increasingly use carpooling, just as one of many options rather than the main one”.

“In a recent estimate by Taxistop, we arrived at about 100,000 commuters who receive a fiscal benefit for their carpooling activity. That’s about half of all people who regularly carpool in Belgium. And the number of commuters who occasionally carpool – who could also claim some fiscal benefit from it – is likely to be much higher still”.

MARKET LEADER Very little comprehensive EU-wide research has been done into the phenomenon. There is no single European organisation specifically promoting carpooling.

In some countries, France and the UK most prominently, national umbrella FLEET EUROPE #96

SMARTMOBILITY

CARPOOLING, RIDE-SHARING AND CAR-SHARING If it feels like a rental, it’s carsharing; if it feels like a taxi, it’s ride-sharing; and if it feels like a gentleman’s agreement between friends or colleagues, it’s carpooling. Not clear yet?

Carpooling refers to using the extra seating capacity in individual cars for (other) passengers going the same way. Historically, carpooling has been organised very informally, directly between driver(s) and passenger(s).

Ride-sharing refers to carpooling in a wider sense (i.e. sharing not just private cars, but also taxis, vans, etc), and also in a more professional sense (i.e. by using an intermediary platform, e.g. Uber,

organisations do exist. What is clear, nevertheless, is that in most countries, the sector has aligned itself in a basically binary fashion.

“For carpooling over longer distances, often across national borders, BlaBlaCar is the clear market leader. For short-distance carpooling, in other words: for commuting, local players dominate. In Belgium, that would be Taxistop, Kowo and Commuty, to name the main ones”.

DRAMATIC SHAKE-UP The European carpool market is about to undergo a dramatic shake-up: “The short-distance market will soon be entered by a number of big players, which are already active in the U.S., such as Google Waze and UberPOOL – which is already active in a number of European cities”.

In San Francisco, Uber riders choose the fare-splitting pool option 50% of the time.

Why the interest? The maths are pretty clear. Even if carpooling is the unknown sibling to the star performer, its fortunes are as likely to rise as those of car-sharing.

The major push factor: the staggering inefficiency of ‘classic’ mobility. Cars sit unused 90% of the time, cost €6,500 per FLEET EUROPE #96

BlaBlaCar, etc.) Car-sharing refers to sharing cars, not rides. Typically, it means one vehicle used consecutively by different drivers. This can be organised on a peer-to-peer basis (between individual drivers, e.g. CarAmigo), on a point-to-point basis (between fixed locations, e.g.

Cambio), or on a free-floating basis (anywhere inside a given area, e.g.

Car2Go).

While all three are ‘shared mobility modes’, car-sharing is clearly separate. The tricky bit is drawing the line between the other two.

For some, that line is the intermediary platform. For others, it’s the whether the car carries one passenger or more.

year to run and cause €100 billions’ worth of damage to the EU economy each year via congestion.

The major pull factor: digitisation, which makes it easier than ever to match empty space in cars with passengers going from A to B. If we would share our vehicles efficiently, we’d need just 10% of our total fleet to maintain current levels of mobility.

Carpooling is likely to play a pivotal role in the transformation of our current fleets into leaner units, with the potential to make a profit instead of the certainty to only cost money.

MYMOBICALENDAR Taxistop.be is offering Belgian corporates an easy tool to calculate the fiscal advantage their employees receive for carpooling (or cycling or using public transport) to and from work. MyMobiCalendar produces the required fiscal certificate, further incentivising employees to commute sustainably, and helping corporates to offer innovative and cost-effective alternatives to classic mobility strategies. Not yet widely known, the tool could eventually help to paint a more complete and detailed picture of carpooling in Belgium.

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REMARKETING

'Offline' remarketing with or without future Frank Jacobs

Online auctions are transforming the remarketing industry.

But how exactly? We asked the executives of two prominent remarketing companies, both recently in the news for different reasons. high-quality. GWListe has a different car mix from a steady and loyal seller database in the dealer community. As for business models: CarsOn-TheWeb has a full-service, transactional, no-cure-nopay model. GWListe applies a non-transactional model: they're essentially a matchmaker for sellers and buyers”.

How will the acquisition impact your business?

JOHAN MEYSSEN, CEO, CarsOnTheWeb

In February, Belgium-based CarsOnTheWeb acquired GWListe, a German online car trade network.

Why? “GWListe has a very nice footprint on the German market. Combining our volumes will make us the third-largest auctioneer in Germany, increasing our relevance on the biggest automotive market in Europe”.

How does GWListe fit with CarsOnTheWeb's overall strategy?

“Both companies are highly complementary. Product-wise, CarsOn-TheWeb has a steady supply of end-of-lease cars, which are well-documented and of

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“We'll gradually offer CarsOnTheWeb services to the sellers and buyers of GWListe and vice versa. And we'll launch the GWListe business model all over Germany, and eventually elsewhere in Europe. Both brands will continue to offer clearly distinct services. But while we develop the best qualities of each brand, we'll integrate ICT, HR and other back-office services”.

Online auctions are transforming the way used vehicles are being traded.

How far has remarketing come in, say, 10 years?

“In short, I'd have to say that, as we adopt and implement increasingly complex aspects of new technology, our company is becoming more and more a tech company”.

For your business, how important are online auctions compared to physical ones?

Europe, and I'm sure that online auctioneers will be leading the pack, especially in international trade”.

What are the latest developments in this field?

“There are two major and strongly interlinked developments, both taking place in the fast-evolving field of information technology. Like other industries, the vehicle auction industry, and CarsOnTheWeb in particular, is increasingly using Big Data and Business Intelligence to further the main goal of vehicle remarketing: to provide an even better match between the cars on offer and demand from buyers”. “And linked to that, we are studying and adopting the typical e-marketing techniques that are current in consumer e-businesses. All this is in line with our CarsOnTheWeb strategic choices, for which we aim to dramatically improve the accessibility to our company, our website, our cars and our services for our customers”.

Will online auctions completely take over?

“Yes, the online model is by far the more cost-efficient, and it is over-performing against the physical auction model. It will increasingly do so by further improving the growing liquidity of the auctions, which is resulting in higher bids for the sourcing partners”.

“I'm convinced that the online approach right for our industry in continental FLEET EUROPE #96

REMARKETING

Experts agree that online remarketing is the more cost-efficient but physical auctions will also in the upcoming years stay a necessary complement to the complete remarketing process.

Jean-Roch PIAT, Divisional CEO for BCA's European operation

Mr. Piat, you were appointed as Divisional CEO for BCA's European operation in February. What's your history with the company?

“I joined BCA in 2007, initially developing the French subsidiary, which has since grown five-fold. By 2015, six other European markets had been added to my portfolio. In 2016, with BCA under new ownership, I took on the role of COO Mainland Europe”.

European dealers transition quickly to the profitable, high-churn retail model which has already proven its value in the UK. In parallel, we'll help dealers cope with the growing digital marketplace both its challenges and its opportunities”.

business, including vehicles sold via Live Online, where remote buyers bid in physical auctions at BCA. Online auctions are well suited to segmented offerings, as they allow us to merge into sales targeted at a specific customer sector”.

What sets BCA Europe apart on the European market?

What are the latest developments in this field?

“Scale matters, and BCA is number one by far. BCA provides access to the only Europe-wide marketplace for used vehicles, covering all market segments and combining digital experience and physical fulfilment. Bricks and clicks is not a mere slogan for us: across Europe, we operate remarketing centres and marshalling compounds, and we transport vehicles”.

“Digital sales add flexibility to the process, allowing stock to be churned more efficiently. Fixed-price virtual stock can be made available for sale at night and weekends. By investing in high-quality imagery early in the remarketing process, dealers can leverage these digital assets to start their retail activity while the cars are on their way”.

Online auctions are transforming the way used vehicles are being traded.

How far has remarketing come in, say, 10 years?

“It has certainly involved, and not just in the more visible areas. BCA has seen a significant expansion of Big Data capabilities to driver greater efficiency and customer insight. Predictive analytics is becoming a powerful tool, boosting accuracy in pricing”.

And what do you see as your main tasks in the time ahead?

For your business, how important are online auctions compared to physical ones?

“Europe's automotive industry is undergoing rapid change. We must help

“Online auctions account for over 80% of the purchases within BCA's European

FLEET EUROPE #96

Will online auctions completely take over?

“Our experience shows that physical auctions are an essential part of the mix, a marketplace where buyers really feel part of the process and we, as BCA, get the opportunity to build and maintain relationships. Physical sales are a great complement to a remarketing programme essentially centred around online auctions and generate a different dynamic”.

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EXPERT

Crash course in ethics Jonathan Manning

If a self-driving car cannot avoid a collision, should it protect its occupants, other road users or pedestrians?

And who decides?

Questions that need an answer for your future fleet mobility.

TEST YOUR ETHICS Massachusetts Institute of Technology has set up a thought-provoking website, called Moral Machine, to act as a platform to gauge ethical opinion.

The site presents dilemmas where a choice has to be made between the lesser of two evils. For example, if a self-driving car has brake failure is it better for it to run over pedestrians on the road when the crossing signal is green; or to swerve and run over a different group of pedestrians who are breaking the law by crossing when the signal is red?

Find out more at: moralmachine.mit.edu 48

Amid the hope and hype surrounding autonomous cars, there’s a darker side to the programming of self-driving vehicles.

When a crash is unavoidable, what action should a vehicle take? It’s an ethical question with strong commercial implications, and it’s concerning governments and vehicle manufacturers.

The crux of the issue was neatly summed up

by Prof. Rupert Stadler, chairman of Audi.

vehicle that preferentially protected its own passengers,” said the report.

The logic of such decisions is easy to understand, even if establishing a publicly acceptable, commercially viable framework for resolving ethical dilemmas is extremely difficult. Solutions are possible, however, according to Dr Noah Goodall, senior research scientist at Virginia Transportation Research Council.

“Imagine a situation, where the autonomous car has got three choices: either it steers left and harms an elderly lady. Or it steers right and hits a pregnant woman. Or it drives straight into an obstacle and thus harms its own passenger. In such a situation, human beings have no time for thoughtful decisions. We simply react. But interestingly, we expect the autonomous car to make the right decision. As a society, we will have to find ways how to deal with these topics,” he said.

“Fortunately, the public doesn’t expect superhuman wisdom but rather a rational justification for a vehicle’s actions that considers the ethical implications. A solution doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be thoughtful and defensible,” he said.

The software developers coding self-driving vehicles have to program this type of forced choice into their artificial intelligence algorithms, yet fascinating research published in the journal Science revealed how difficult these decisions can be. When members of the public were asked to choose between the death of one or more pedestrians and the death of one or more passengers in an autonomous vehicle, 76% voted for a utilitarian outcome based on saving the most lives overall, even if this meant the vehicle sacrificing its own passengers. However, the same participants said they were significantly less likely to buy an autonomous vehicle if they and their family were to be the passengers sacrificed.

THE GERMAN EXAMPLE One exception is Germany, where the government commissioned a study last year on the ethics of automated driving.

The report included guidelines that said the protection of human life must always have top priority, and that, “In the event of unavoidable accident situations, any distinction between individuals based on personal features (age, gender, physical or mental constitution) is impermissible.”

“In short, study participants wanted other people to buy vehicles that made utilitarian choices to preferentially save the most people, but preferred to purchase a

Such ethical decisions are for governments rather than manufacturers, yet few countries appear to be keeping pace with technological progress.

Interestingly, in medical ethics humans do make life or death decisions according to age. For example, quality-adjusted life years are used to determine who receives a transplant organ; the patient who will enjoy the longest and best quality of life after the operation receives the organ.

As a manufacturing powerhouse it’s no surprise to see Germany establish early FLEET EUROPE #96

EXPERT

If a self-driving car has to choose between two unavoidable collisions, how should it decide where to crash?

guidelines, but the challenge for manufacturers is whether different countries will adopt similar ethics.

Renata Jungo Brüngger, member of the Daimler AG Executive Board, responsible for integrity and legal issues, said, “Legal certainty is a prerequisite for the acceptance of autonomous driving within society. For this reason, we quickly need an international harmonisation of the legal framework.

Progress must not stop at national borders.”

If the ethical dilemmas surrounding autonomous vehicles sound insurmountable, Germany’s new guidelines introduce a further moral element, which favours the adoption of self-driving technology. If these vehicles cause fewer accidents than human drivers – and evidence suggests human error is responsible for in excess of 90% of crashes - then it is an ‘ethical imperative’ to introduce them. The alternative is a far less attractive scenario where society as a whole suffers unnecessary road traffic injuries and fatalities because humans remain in control behind the wheel.

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WHO IS LIABLE? Car makers, software programmers, tech firms and insurers are grappling with the issue of where liability will lie when a self-driving car crashes.

Three years ago Volvo appeared to simplify the issue when Håkan Samuelsson, the manufatcurer’s president and CEO, said the company would accept full liability if one of its cars crashed while in autonomous mode.

Since then, however, there has been no general trend towards any party accepting liability.

Nick Blacknell, Zurich’s Motor VM and engineering manager, said drivers may still be liable if they fail to install any essential software updates in their autonomous car, and if they fail to regain control of a vehicle when it’s in autonomous mode (until completely driverless cars are available).

“However, if it is the result of software failure, then insurers could seek to recover costs from the manufacturer, in the same way they might today if a collision occurs due to a mechanical defect,” said Blacknell.

“When it comes to liability, things aren’t likely to change significantly until we reach a point where the vehicle is fully autonomous and making all decisions without driver override or intervention.”

During the transition period to full autonomy, international insurer Ageas suggests that, an injured but innocent (i.e. not-at-fault) party involved in an accident should always be able to claim against the motor insurance policy on the vehicle in the first instance.

Ageas adds that, “The vehicle insurer would retain recovery and/or contribution rights against any third party or manufacturer and/or supplier(s) determined to be ‘at-fault’.”

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ANALYSIS

Fuel cards to become mobility management tools Jonathan Manning

As fleets widen the power sources for their vehicles and the travel choices for their employees, so fuel cards are evolving their services well beyond the purchase of petrol and diesel.

The rapidly changing outlook for vehicle powertrains is bringing a dramatic transformation in ancillary services to support fleets. Where fuel cards were once a simple solution to buying petrol or diesel, their role as sophisticated purchasing cards and powerful management tools is developing swiftly.

The growing internationalisation of the corporate world is leading to card solutions that pave the way for smooth business travel throughout Europe and beyond.

Paul HOLLAND, chief operating officer, Fleetcor

And the arrival in the mobility arena of new players is opening the opportunity for partnerships and ‘white label’ solutions that see fuel card suppliers offer their services and expertise to a new group of start-up customers.

BEYOND FOSSIL FUELS Fuel card suppliers have already expanded their services beyond the two fossil fuels of petrol and diesel to include LPG and CNG, and as electric motors power more vehicles, so the need to offer a multi-fuel approach to card purchases has become vital.

A spokesman for Total said: “The market is evolving towards a mix of energies for cars

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and trucks. Our goal is to accompany our customers whatever energy choice they do concerning their vehicles. This is why our card offer is composed of diesel, gasoline, NGV through our service stations or with partners, and also access to a large European network of electric charge points.”

He added that Total is committed to growing its 18,000-strong service station network across Europe, “to support international transport and also to have a better density of network in each country for more national or really local needs.”

HYDROGEN The desire to stay ahead of fleet demand has recently seen Fleetcor’s Allstar Business Solutions become the first fuel card provider to add hydrogen to its list of options. The company has signed a contract with ITM Power to enable its fuel cards to be accepted at the ITM’s network of hydrogen refueling stations.

Paul Holland, chief operating officer of Fleetcor, said: “The refueling landscape is evolving at a significant pace. Not only is the demand for alternative fuel growing but the global hydrogen generation market alone is set to grow nearly six per cent by 2021.”

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ANALYSIS

“Hand in hand with this, there is a rising pressure on internal combustion engine powertrains as there is currently a lack of viable solutions for the LGV market. In the meantime, diesel continues to play an important role as it is still relatively more efficient for long haul driving. In the longer term, however, there will be a new generation of electric vehicles and other alternative fuels. There will need to be a significantly improved EV infrastructure, particularly if this is to support larger vehicles. This is an evolution which Fleetcor will be monitoring and will ensure it is agile in adjusting to when the market moves - whether that is for electric, hybrid, or an alternative future fuel.”

ELECTRIC MOBILITY Rival independent fuel card operator, UTA, has developed a new product range called ‘UTA eCharge’ for electric mobility, in partnership with charge point specialist NewMotion, one of Europe’s largest EV charging providers. UTA’s cards already offer access to cleaner alternative fuels, such as LPG, CNG and biodiesel, and the company said it is strategically positioned to address any new form of energy.

“Mobility is our focus and hand-in-hand with a product management team we aim to react on new market developments or the development of new eco-systems,” said a UTA spokesman.

These developments are increasingly international, and having established a powerful presence in Western Europe, UTA is now looking east, having bought 51% of Timex Card in January to give it a direct and widespread presence in Poland, the Baltic countries and Ukraine.

It is also strengthening its business activities in Bulgaria.

WIDE ARRAY OF SOLUTIONS As fleets contend with political, environmental and financial pressures to run more energy efficient vehicles, oil giant Shell is working on a wide array of solutions to assist its corporate customers.

Shell’s service stations and fuel cards already offer access to LNG, CNG and biofuels, and in Germany the company is pioneering a hydrogen refueling infrastructure, called H2 Mobility, in cooperation with Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, and Total. The network should be live by 2023.

FAST-CHARGING NETWORK With electric power already established as a zero emission alternative to internal combustion engines, Shell Fleet Solutions has positioned itself as a mobility service provider to help fleet managers transition from petrol and diesel to batteries. Shell acquired NewMotion at the end of last year. Shell has also

committed to install a network of high-powered charging points along main European motorways with Ionity, a joint venture between BMW, Daimler, Ford and the Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche. This will boost both the availability and speed of electric charging on major roads, and Shell will soon launch a new card that gives fleet drivers on-the-go access to charging infrastructure as well as other fuels and services, such as road tolls.

Shell’s investment in NewMotion is also an acknowledgment that most drivers of electric cars will recharge the batteries either at home or the workplace, and the company is working on a fleet solution for these arrangements, too.

“We provide customers with the flexibility to charge their electric vehicles at home, work and on the go,” said a Shell spokesman. “We are working on integrating home charging transactions into the transaction settlement process in future.

We listen to our customers and understand that their needs towards mobility are growing beyond fuels whilst they still expect to receive a consolidated view of their fleet management activities.”

Fuel cards are transforming into mobility purchasing cards.

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ANALYSIS

CHARGE YOUR CAR WHILE IT IS PARKED One example of where Shell is piloting new mobility ideas is in Rotterdam, where the Shell TapUp app lets customers order fuel to be delivered straight to their car, at work or home. Appropriately for a cleaner future, TapUp fuel is delivered by an electric vehicle.

or a mobility budget or should they have a diesel car or an EV?” said Paul Hollick, managing director of TMC.

For fleets with a fundamental commitment to the environment, Shell already offers a CO2 offsetting proposition.

ALL AREAS OF MOBILITY Looking farther to the future, TMC’s Mobility+ card, because it’s based on the Mastercard and Visa network, is neatly positioned to help fleets transition from company cars to mobility solutions.

Mobility+ can consolidate purchases from all areas of mobility, including hire cars, hotels, trains and planes to give employers better analysis and tighter control of business travel expenditure. TMC also offers a smartphone app to help employees manage their expenses, and streamline reimbursement processes for businesses.

“Every time drivers refuel using the Shell Fuel Card, the emissions produced by their fleet are calculated and offset via a contribution to CO2 reduction projects around the world, such as the Kasigau Project in Kenya that protects 500,000 acres of a highly threatened area of forest,” said a spokesman.

There’s a certain irony to the fact that data from fossil fuel cards is one of the most insightful sources to identify which petrol or diesel vehicles on a fleet could be replaced by electric power. By analysing management information from fuel and telematics feeds, TMC is helping fleet decision makers, “answer such key questions such as should drivers have a company car

TMC’s fleet management systems can already take data from workplace EV charging points and calculate reimbursement information for drivers who use their own electricity to charge their vehicles.

“By overlaying travel information on to employee data, such as whether individuals are home or office-based, TMC Mobility+ provides companies with a single view of costs and a 360-degree view of each employee’s business travel patterns,” said TMC. “The system can also make recommendations for optimising mobility at both company and individual level, based on employee travel patterns.

Recommendations include who should or shouldn’t be eligible for a company car; who could be in electric vehicles; who could be car sharing, and where it could be more cost-effective to give someone a transportation allowance rather than a conventional car or cash allowance.”

In Rotterdam, Shell charges electric cars where they are parked.

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The card and the service behind it are prime examples of how fuel cards are evolving into essential tools to help companies manage their total cost of mobility.

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ANALYSIS

Fuel policy on international level but…

Tim Harrup

Fuel is a hot topic at the moment. But it is always a significant cost centre for company fleets. What do some of the major fleets recommend in terms of fuel types, suppliers, international strategies?

The first thing you have to look at is the geographical spread of your fleet operations. Does the scale of this make an international fuel policy feasible? And consider what your requirements are in terms of fuel card reporting and the value of analytics to support demand management, compliance and identify driver training needs.

As a reduction in administration is always preferable, ensure that your fuel card supplier handles as much as possible.

To start with, some advice when it comes to selecting one or more suppliers:

• If you are using several fuel companies in many countries, it would be great to have ‘one card fits most’ in Europe.

• Get central billing where possible.

• International coverage is a challenge, driver convenience and downtime must be balanced against availability of fuelling locations.

• For complete coverage, multiple vendors will be required and this fragments total spend.

• Operational simplicity is important, consider invoicing, card issuing and cancellation processes.

• Even the main fuel suppliers are not necessarily present in every country, so a single brand policy might sound good FLEET EUROPE #96

on paper, but it might not work in practice; it might even be close to impossible.

• Opting for a single supplier may sound good, but the supplier may have different pricing in different countries, so it doesn’t necessarily make financial sense.

• Pump price discount opportunities are typically small, even when combining international spend this might not be significant to vendors.

• If your fleet is largely utility, the right choice is probably still diesel, diesel, diesel…

Another thorny issue for fleet managers is that of fraud. Instances of a company car driver using a fuel card to fill up the wife’s/husband’s car are not unknown…

• Use analytics to support compliance and identify fraud risks.

Next on the list is the question of which type of fuel should be used. A topic which has never been so much in the limelight as now:

• If you are considering going electric, make sure these vehicles can drive in the conditions required (mountains, deserts…).

• Carry out a fuel analysis first, to see what the volume of fuel used is, and to see whether the right products are being used – diesel, petrol, or electric for example.

• Do not fall into the trap of getting a couple of electric vehicles so it looks good for the company’s green image. If you are considering electric, carry out a pilot first to see if it works, and where it works (regions, job types…).

• Fleets should develop fuel purchasing policies that support driver fuel purchasing decisions, and hold drivers accountable for those decisions.

• To curb overspending on fuel, fleets should choose a programme that allows the fleet manager and other fleet stakeholders to receive real-time fuel purchase alerts, providing deep detail on every fuel transaction.

WITH THANKS TO… • Andy Leeden – AstraZeneca • Maaike Van Hemmen – G4S • Prachi Misra – NCR • Kim Stenberg – Vestas

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ANALYSIS

Control fuel spend and combat fraud Jonathan Manning

Fuel cards give fleet managers the tools and management information to monitor and analyse fuel expenditure, streamline processes and eliminate misuse.

As the highest day-to-day element of fleet running costs, fuel spend is a vital area of expenditure to control. Successful management policies can deliver double digit savings, but a failure to act can lead to overspend and abuse, undermining fleet budgets.

At the heart of every fuel management strategy is a fuel card. In its simplest form this enables drivers to pay for petrol or diesel, and captures their vehicle odometer reading and registration plate. These cards are now as secure as credit cards, with microchips and PINs for security. The more sophisticated versions allow fleet operators to set their own parameters over where, when and how much fuel, and other discretionary items (such as AdBlue or road tolls) a driver can purchase.

ELIMINATE RISKS Paul Holland, chief operating officer of Fleetcor, said: “By using fuel cards, drivers do not have to carry cash or company credit cards, which eliminates the risk of these being used incorrectly, stolen or being lost.”

Fuel cards also introduce much greater controls for fleets.

“These range from ensuring the card can only be spent at specific locations, at a certain time, on certain products, or at a total spend limit,” said Holland.

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Cards also make it easier for fleets to consolidate their spending through a single supplier, at a national or international level, to negotiate rebates or discounts.

Alternative solutions, such as Fleetcor’s Keyfuels and BP PLUS Bunker (both targeted at heavy goods vehicles), allow fleets to bulk purchase diesel and then draw the fuel from the respective networks.

CAP PRICES FOR 1 YEAR Working with a single supplier can deliver other benefits, too. BP’s Fuel Price Guarantee (FPG), for example, lets fleets cap the price of regular diesel for a 12-month period, while still being able to benefit from cheaper pump prices if prices drop. This enables fleets looking to bid for contracts to calculate their costs with a much greater degree of confidence.

BP’s fuel cards marketing manager, James Field-Davis, said: “Fuel price volatility can have a meaningful impact on a business's profitability, cash-flow, competitiveness and overall ability to do business. BP’s Fuel Price Guarantee is a unique way for fleet owners to budget, control and plan fuel costs more efficiently.”

Continuing the efficiency theme, fuel cards streamline fleet purchasing processes, including VAT recovery, to deliver significant administrative gains.

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ANALYSIS

Fuel cards are transforming into mobility purchasing cards.

“With the simplicity of one payment, one invoice and consolidated spend reports one card does it all, nationally and internationally,” said a spokesman for Shell.

DATA AND INSIGHTS Consolidation does not mean, however, a loss of detail. Fuel card data makes it much easier for fleet operators to generate management information that identifies poor performing drivers and vehicles, and even incidents of fraud.

“You will have access to data and insights that allow you to see spend and manage cards, all in real-time. Via the Shell Cards online portal, you can also easily order or block cards, download customised reports and set card restrictions, and be sure that your spend and drivers are under control.”

FRAUD DETECTION Shell employs dedicated anti-fraud teams that work around the clock to help detect unusual purchasing activity and notify fleet managers of any concerns in realtime. Fraud and misuse can take many forms beyond the risk of stolen cards.

“The fact that we audit each transaction and can overlay fuel card information with information about the vehicle, mileage information (and telematics data)

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enables us to prevent misuse of the fuel card, too,” said Paul Hollick, managing director of TMC. “For example, if we take in your telematics data we’ll know whether the vehicle was present when the fuel card was used. We’ll also pick up if there are multiple transactions in one day and look into it, or if petrol was purchased when the driver has a diesel vehicle.”

REPORTING SYSTEM The granular detail of TMC’s reporting system lets fleet managers pay close attention to drivers’ expense claims for business mileages, an area the company says is particularly prone to abuse.

Without close monitoring and control, a culture of bad habits can develop which sees drivers rounding-up the distance of their business journeys to the nearest 10 (or multiple of 10 miles), 'guesstimating' rather than recording accurate mileages, and even claiming for journeys they did not drive.

With its Fuel+ card accepted wherever Mastercard or Visa are accepted (98% of European service stations), TMC can consolidate data into reports that analyse fuel spend by region, country, cost centre, division and even driver.

“Before Fuel+, some of our customers were administering 40 different card programmes (two cards per driver in 20 markets). The advantage of moving to one supplier is significant from an administrative point of view,” said Hollick.

OTHER PURCHASES With detailed reporting and controls in place, the question for fleet operators is how far to stretch the purchasing possibilities of their fuel cards beyond petrol or diesel.

The new Total card, for example, can be customised to allow drivers to buy fuels, lubricants, AdBlue, road tolls, parking charges, carwashes, and even discretionary spend in shops.

And UTA offers extensions to its fuel service that cover tolls in 26 European countries, as well as services such as emergency breakdown, vehicle recovery and towing, tyre replacement, vehicle cleaning, ferries and even vehicle rental.

The result is, “Cashless en-route care throughout Europe with just one card,” said a spokesman for UTA.

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MANAGEMENT

Safety as a company culture Tim Harrup

When it comes to operating a safety policy, the question is not just of ‘what’ but of ‘why and how’. Safety involves the whole of the company’s business, not just a part of it. A car fleet is, after all, not an end in itself but a business enabler, like a factory, or a brewery…

It is within this context that the overall approach of Heineken led to Reyes Gonzalez and Adriana Holban being the unanimous choice of the Fleet Europe Awards jury to win the International Fleet Safety Award 2017 last November.

Health and safety has always been an integral part of the Heineken business and linked to its core values.

Nothing is more important than ensuring that employees and others are safe when they perform their duties.

The first of the Heineken behaviour requirements is ‘Put safety first!’ and one of the pillars in its 2020 objective is ‘people first’. Importantly, the whole safety approach is actively endorsed by the top management of the company, ensuring it is embedded in the culture.

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Reyes Gonzalez and Adriana Holban, Global Safety Manager and Global Buyer Fleet and Travel, Heineken - International Fleet Safety Award 2017 The key steps of the road safety programme are leadership, driver behaviour and the vehicle. This also involves the various contractors who work for Heineken. Risk assessment plays a major role: analysing the situation, assessing risks and taking any measures in advance.

INVOLVEMENT Rolling out the programme requires time and a great deal of coordination from management. Conducting a pilot test

with a group of people, leading to discussion and giving everyone the possibility to contribute, was another of the key elements of the roll-out. This all takes time, and Heineken allowed four years for completion, with the final stage being to look at the results and shape the final solution accordingly. If the input comes just from the leaders of the project, and not from those really involved – the drivers – then the road will be longer. By acting in this way and also convincing FLEET EUROPE #96

MANAGEMENT

the stakeholders downstream of the benefits of your project and the advantages it delivers, you can achieve a fully rounded policy.

MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS The benefits of introducing this holistic safety approach have been a reduction in serious accidents and better reporting of all incidents – enabling corrective action to be taken. The managers can now see where things are happening which are outside of the policy, and deal with the situation. The number of ‘at risk’ areas and at-risk behaviours being reported has also improved, along with overall governance. The data received enables Reyes and Adriana to take the appropriate action.

The latest element to be added to the road safety programme was telematics.

Following installation in Poland, which has one of the largest fleets, a reduction in accidents of 40% was already recorded in one year, and a reduction of almost 50% in accidents which were the fault of Heineken drivers. This has gone hand in hand with a reduction of 8% in fuel consumption – itself bearing witness to less impetuous driving.

KEEP IMPROVING Adriana and Reyes know that there can still be improvements in every aspect of the programme going forward. Ensuring telematics are installed everywhere is one of the areas. They are also maximising communication with local managers to see where more safety success can be achieved and to ensure that regional fleet policies include safety as a major topic. More can also be done, they believe, in terms of training and of improving driver behaviour. The whole programme is seen as a journey, and there is still a way to go. They have a mandate from senior stakeholders to implement telematics in all operating companies by the end of 2018. The most important part – despite all of the undoubted success so far – is still to come. Results will be achieved in time with a sustained effort to coach drivers and make them realise the impact of their action.

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COMMON VIEW So how does this partnership work, with our two managers based in two different countries? The managers have to work with 80 operating companies, so remoteness is not an issue. Another great help in this is that Adriana and Reyes have the same understanding about fleet strategy and what needs to be done so that the strategy makes sense for all internal stakeholders.

Winning the International Fleet Safety Award has led to more visibility internally, enabling internal stakeholders to realise that safety is a very important topic. This means that people are more prepared to get round the table to discuss the future fleet strategy. The Award is also a confirmation that they are on the right road, and that the company is seen to be responsible.

BASIC SAFETY What would be the most important safety feature that every fleet policy should have? Crash avoidance systems would be welcome, because even if you are driving very safely, somebody else on the road might not be. According to Reyes, whose life was once saved by airbags, this would top the list, even in countries where they are not currently as widespread as in Western Europe. Along with these are seatbelts, also in African countries, for example, where they are not necessarily fitted.

And also a device to prevent the car being driven by someone who has been consuming alcohol.

THE HEINEKEN FLEET:

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COUNTRIES

15,300 CARS

3,000 VANS

6,200 TRUCKS

TIPS & TRICKS • Benchmark the company against others • Align the policy with the aims of the company • Get stakeholder buy-in, including management • Understand what can be done to stay in line with these aims • Make sure you can measure achievements

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MANAGEMENT

E-auctions reduce cost up to 35% Frank Jacobs

E-auctions are an increasingly popular way for fleet clients to award contracts to suppliers. If done right, they save time and money. But first, fleet managers need to get everyone on board and prepare the stage. And that may be the hardest part.

The 'e' gives it away: e-auctions take the bidding process between fleet clients and their suppliers online. In an e-auction (or e-bidding), bidders compete in a standard, transparent and dynamic process, and can do so from anywhere in the world.

It's a procedure currently preferred by big multinationals such as Siemens, ISS and Novartis to fulfil the business needs of their fleets.

SIGNIFICANT RESISTANCE “I've been a great fan of e-auctions ever since my first e-sourcing event back in 2001”, says Peter Szelenyi, Global Fleet Category Manager at Novartis. “The subject was one tonne of molybdenum-based grease, if I remember correctly (laughs).

The most common types of e-auctions are the so-called English, Dutch and Japanese auctions (see box), and we use all three at Novartis”.

E-auctions can meet with significant resistance, but those negative assumptions are often misguided. “First assumption: e-auctions are all about achieving the lowest price, to the exclusion of other parameters. Not true. Like other procurement methods, e-auctions are a form of negotiation. Qualitative measures are built into the evaluation model itself”.

Other arguments against e-auctions: they're only good for large-quantity contracts; and they can damage long-time relationships with suppliers. Both equally false: “If the services or goods in question can be compared to others, they can be auctioned, no matter what the quantity.

And e-auctions are simply a tool to conduct a final negotiation, no more, no less”.

LIST OF ADVANTAGES The list of advantages generated by e-auctions is significantly longer, and more valid, says Peter.

• Competitive

selection process documentation: e-auctions produce a clean, transparent audit trail showing all aspects of vendor selection. No need for filing papers.

Everything is available on the system.

Chiffres ?

• Productivity:

the price rate reduces by an average of 5-10% compared to a traditional RFP completed with classic negotiation. “In extreme cases, e-auctions can reduce cost by as much as 35%. But that also depends on the category – and how well it was managed before”.

• Market E-auctions as fleet management contract tools. More and more international fleet managers are using them, but success is not guaranteed.

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insight: e-bidding captures data points from multiple bidders, offering insight into market prices and supplier performance in the relevant category.

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• Time

• Standardisation:

WAVE OF THE FUTURE But don’t be mistaken: despite the many advantages, e-auctions are not necessarily easy. The risk is underestimating the preparation time, which can easily take up 70% of the entire process.

• Replicability: “Based on the templates

Proper preparation can be done only by an experienced category manager who knows the market, the products and services and the business need. This allows him to select the best bidding setup strategy: the high-quality preparation of vendors.

we use, the RFP/e-auction process can be replicated for other markets within hours”.

Successful e-auctions require that certain pre-conditions are met. There

and resources saved: e-auctions don't involve travel and with the necessary preparations, can be concluded in hours, instead of days or weeks.

a standard interface provides suppliers with a predictable process when competing for a bid.

“This is also an argument to convince suppliers: e-bidding shortens the sale cycle, and dramatically reduces the cost of winning a new client”.

should be a credible field of more than one supplier. The required products and/ or services need to be sufficiently specified. And internal stakeholders need to be convinced of the benefit.

So where do e-auctions go from here?

“Strategic procurement is a different story – it should stay in-house. But considering the rising trend to externalise and limit resources for non-core functions on one hand, and the digitalisation and globalisation of markets on the other, e-sourcing is definitely the wave of the future for procurement”, Peter concludes.

JAPANESE AUCTION

DUTCH AUCTION

ENGLISH AUCTION PROCEDURE

PROCEDURE

PROCEDURE

Suppliers can see their rank and the lowest bid. Bids start at an agreed price (usually based on preliminary bids), with bidders systematically lowering their offer in order to achieve first rank. The auction continues for as long as bids are placed, at which point the lowest bid wins.

This is a blind auction: suppliers don't know the ranking of their bid, nor the price of the lowest bid. The bidding starts 20% to 30% lower than that lowest preliminary bid.

The price then increases in small increments over short intervals. The first supplier to place a bid, wins.

USAGE

USAGE

Also a blind auction. As in the Dutch auction, suppliers don't know the ranking of their bid, nor the price of the lowest bid. The bidding starts slightly above the highest preliminary bid, and drops in small increments over a series of rounds. The bidding continues until all suppliers have placed a bid.

• supplier pool is 3 or more

• supplier pool is less than 3

• preliminary bids are close to each other

• preliminary bids are widely divergent

• cost is not only criterion

• cost is main criterion

• can be used for both single-source or multiple-source supply

• ideal if single-source supply is preferred

OUTCOME

OUTCOME

• final best bids from all participants

• only one bid from winner

COMMENT

COMMENT

“This is a 'reverse English' auction.

We use 'forward English' – just replace low with high - to sell used cars in ownership. Also when we want to increase the discount, payment term, or other aspects of the deal”.

Again, this is a 'reverse Dutch' auction; replace low with high for a 'forward Dutch' auction. “We use reverse Dutch auctions a lot in auctions among our preferred lease companies”.

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USAGE • supplier pool is less than 3 • preliminary bids are widely divergent • cost is not only criterion • can be used for both single-source or multiple-source supply OUTCOME • final best bids from all participants COMMENT This is a 'reverse Japanese' auction; replace low with high for a 'forward Japanese' auction. As with Dutch auctions, “we use reverse Japanese auctions a lot in auctions among our preferred lease companies”.

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MANAGEMENT

Global excellence at Global Fleet Conference Benjamin Uyttebroeck

New mobility solutions, globalisation, LATAM/APAC and greenification at the Global Fleet Conference 2018.

5 REASONS TO ATTEND

1 The Global Fleet Conference is the only

forum designed specifically for executives from the world's largest multinational commercial fleets, and their regional and global responsibilities.

2 The quality of content is commensurate

with the high level of the participants, with in-depth presentations, case studies and panel discussions by fleet industry heavyweights and experts, on topics ranging from global issues to specific regions, and from current problems to future solutions.

The Global Fleet Conference is literally the fleet industry’s best networking event on the planet.

Register for the Global Fleet Conference, an organisation of Fleet Europe’s publishing house Nexus Communication and Bobit Business Media! The event will take place from 28 to 30 May in the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Centre in Rome, ideally located between the historic centre and Fiumicino Airport.

Specific sessions will be held to explore how the global economy will affect your fleet. What’s coming at us this year and how will it affect your business? We will also look at ways to prepare for success. What are the ground rules for setting up an efficient global fleet management policy?

are still the most important markets.

We’ll look into the main trends on both markets. Corporate fleets in Latin America and the Asia/Pacific regions are growing rapidly. We will zoom into these markets and explore how you can align your fleet management approach with these regions.

There will also be a specific session on clean fleets. Are zero-emission fleets feasible and realistic? Is Europe leading the way or falling behind the rest of the world?

Register before 9 April to enjoy an early bird rate. But don't wait too long: previous editions have drawn full capacity. If you want to be sure of your spot, register now via conference.globalfleet.com!

3 The Conference will tackle vital sub-

jects such as: The impact of the global economy on your fleet, How to prepare for success, Cleaning your fleet, Target: zero accidents, Innovate to optimize your global fleet management, A global approach to new mobility initiatives and much more. The attendees will be able to interact via Q&A sessions.

4 The event will draw the cream of the crop in the global fleet industry. This literally is this industry's best networking opportunity on the planet.

5 The mix of presentations, discussions,

networking and personal meetings is also an opportunity to benchmark your own policies and efforts against the best practices of others in your field.

REGISTER NOW: conference.globalfleet.com

The fleet industry is growing worldwide but North America and Europe

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MANAGEMENT

Fleet Europe Awards 2018: apply now Benjamin Uyttebroeck

This year, the Fleet Europe Forum and Awards will take place on 28 November in beautiful Barcelona. It is the rendezvous of the year where extraordinary fleet professionals are thrust in the limelight. It could be you!

There are five categories to honour international fleet and mobility managers:

1 Global Fleet Manager of the Year: This award was first introduced in 2017 and celebrates the person or the team that manages a fleet on a global level and that successfully developed a global fleet approach.

2 European Fleet Manager of the Year: This award looks at the complete and overall vehicle fleet management approach leading to an optimised TCO in line with the corporate strategy.

3 International Fleet Safety Award: This award goes to a project or programme that improves safety and limits incidents and accidents related to the vehicle fleet, taking into account cost optimisation.

4 International

Fleet Mobility Award: This award is presented to a company that has successfully implemented a green project or an initiative in efficient alternative mobility, combining eco-friendliness with employee productivity, customer satisfaction and cost optimisation.

5 International Fleet Innovation Award: This prize rewards an innovative project in a specific field of vehicle fleet management (car policy, green, driver satisfaction, ‌).

To ensure that judging is to the highest possible standards and done by people who know about international fleet management, the jury is made up of corporate fleet managers, fleet suppliers and Fleet Europe representatives.

Each year at the Fleet Europe Awards, we celebrate a new inductee to the International Fleet Hall of Fame which recognises the achievements of a fleet professional who has contributed to his profession. Inclusion into the Hall of Fame is decided by its current members.

Last year, ALD’s Tim Albertsen was selected.

For the third time, Fleet Europe will also present a Smart Mobility Start-up of the Year.

The newest services of vehicle fleet suppliers will be rewarded with the International Fleet Industry Award and the International Car Remarketing Award will be handed out to a solution that brings efficiency in the vehicle remarketing profession.

Would you like to take centre stage and gain recognition in your field of expertise? Take the plunge and send in your application!

HOW TO APPLY Go to the Fleet Europe Forum and Awards website for more information or to become a candidate: forum.fleeteurope.com. You can also send an email to Virginie Emonts, vemonts@nexuscommunication.be.

Following your application, you will receive a questionnaire. In a later stage, candidates will be invited to present their cases to the jury.

Meet the winners of the 2017 Fleet Europe Awards. Apply now to follow in their footsteps!

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BUSINESS

Free2Move is on target Steven Schoefs @StevenSchoefs

It's been a year since the launch of Free2Move, PSA's B2B and B2C mobility subsidiary. What's the verdict? We asked Brigitte Courtehoux, Executive VP at PSA Group and head of its New Mobility efforts, and Philippe Belorgey, CEO of Free2Move Lease.

“Free2Move is at around 600,000 B2C customers on the Free2Move app, our easy-to-use platform that aggregates our car-sharing, bike-sharing and scootersharing solutions. We're on target, and very proud of it” smiles Brigitte Courtehoux.

Philippe Belorgey: “Last year, the volume of our activity grew by nearly 14% over 2016. Having launched Free2Move Lease in six countries – France, the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and Belgium – we're now actually ahead of our roll-out plan.

We've improved our offers, extended our central offers to all markets. We've launched packaged offers with connected services. We've improved car returns and other back-office processes. And last but not least, we've had some key account successes, not least with the French railways – adding 4,000 cars to Free2Move Lease in 2018”.

Free2Move was launched last year with the aim to become the leading mobility service provider worldwide. Are you on track?

Brigitte COURTEHOUX, Executive Vice President, Mobility and Connectivity Services at Groupe PSA: “The customer will need both the electric vehicle and all the services included, for charging and so on. This is in the pipeline, and you will see EV offers coming very soon”.

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BC: “Yes – both for private and corporate customers. On the private side, our app is operational in the U.S. and Europe, and we'll continue to grow with it. On the B2B side, we complement Free2Move Lease with Free2Move Connect Fleet and Free2Move Fleet Sharing solutions. Our customers tell us the combination is simple and interesting to use. But if you don't want to use all in a single package, you can use Connect Fleet and Fleet Sharing separately. For both, we have sold 100,000 services. It's a start: a small number, but we see it accelerate”.

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BUSINESS

Free2Move is currently present in the U.S. and nine European markets.

Where next?

Private customers are increasingly interested in leasing over buying. What are your thoughts on B2B2C and B2C?

BC: “When it's about private customers, our focus is the U.S. - any city that has car-sharing, and continue to develop Europe. We'll also develop Latin America.

But basically, anywhere where there is car-, bicycle- and scooter-sharing. We'll also develop Latin America. But basically, anywhere where there is car-, bicycle- and scooter-sharing”.

PB: “Private lease has grown fast in Northern Europe, but less so in Southern European markets, France included. Why? We have other, quite successful products, like LOA in France, which involve renting instead of buying the asset. You have to take account of that when discussing private lease. But in general: yes, buying will give way to other means of acquisition, also for private consumers. And LOA and similar products prove this trend has been going on for longer than many realise”.

“The same for our B2B services. We will deploy throughout 10 European countries this year. And looking to develop other regions all over the world.

PB: “With Free2Move Lease, the plan was to roll out our activity in Europe first. We'll finish that first phase by the end of this year. And we're already working on various countries beyond Europe, including the ones mentioned by Brigitte”.

Private lease and renting formulas were not included under the Free2Move umbrella. Why? PB: “Our However, proposing under the websites.

first focus are B2B customers. we're now thinking about our existing private lease offers Free2Move Lease brand on our

Free2Move nor Free2Move Lease are 'captives' in the strict sense. Can you tell me a bit about your brand mix?

PSA Group has a new brand member – Opel. How does that strengthen Free2Move Lease?

BC: “For car-sharing on the Free2Move app, we have mainly non-PSA providers. For the B2B part, 20% to 30% of our customers have non-PSA brands in their fleets”.

PB: “By expanding our portfolio and benefiting from the Opel image. Especially in countries like Germany and the UK, where the Opel/Vauxhall brand is stronger than the other PSA ones. And of course, Opel has relationships with B2B customers and key accounts that we didn't have access to via the Peugeot, Citroën and DS brands. So that's one more door that opens up”.

PB: “On the lease side, multi-brand activity is still very low. This is because the room for improvement with our own brands was still so great. But there is some appetite for multibrand deals on Free2Move Lease, especially in markets where PSA Group is less present. And the multi-brand pace will pick up from now on”.

Considering the direction in which start-ups are currently pushing the ecosystem, do you think we'll have freeof-charge mobility by, say, 2050?

BC: “Mobility requires not just cheap technology, but also expensive assets – to car-share, you need cars and a high level of service. That's why a lot of start-ups are in trouble today. And that's why mobility won't be free in the future.”

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Philippe BELORGEY, CEO of

Free2Move Lease:

“Full-service leasing as just one tool in the toolbox for building mobility offers is becoming more trendy. With Free2Move Lease, we're not selling full-service leasing so much as mobility solutions.”

The app currently offers access to carsharing, bike-sharing and scootersharing. When will we see other services added to the platform?

BC: “We will add the renting solution to the platform – I can't tell you when, but it will be soon. And we will continuously work to provide more customer mobility solutions after that”.

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BUSINESS

It's about people, not cars Frank Jacobs @FrankJacobs

“I hate to lose”, grins Tim Albertsen, recalling the moment his name rang out at the Fleet Europe Awards last December in Estoril.

“So yes, I was very happy to be elected as the newest inductee to the International Fleet Hall of Fame”.

Tim ALBERTSEN, Group Deputy CEO at ALD International and 2017 Inductee in the International Fleet Hall of Fame

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BUSINESS

For Tim Albertsen, Group Deputy CEO at ALD International, the prize was not “life-changing”, but rather a nice accolade for a team effort.

NO-NONSENSE That attitude, in a nutshell, typifies Albertsen's self-effacing yet hard-working style. It’s a Nordic no-nonsense work ethic that's not just focused on results, but also recognises the human capital that is indispensable in achieving those results.

Although he's the first to admit he's been 'lucky', it's clear that hard work had something to do with it too. “I'd spent some years travelling, so I came to higher education late. That's why I worked full-time alongside university,” says Albertsen.

He started out in 1992 as operations manager at Avis Rent a Car Denmark and rose to general manager in 1995, while working towards the degree in Business Administration which he obtained from Copenhagen Business School in 1997.

SERVICE INDUSTRY In 1997, Albertsen moved to become country CEO and later Regional Director at Axus, a leasing company owned by Ford Credit that was acquired by ALD in 2002. His star kept rising. By 2008, Albertsen had become ALD International's Chief Operating Officer. In 2011, he was appointed to his current position, at the very top of the company.

Yet Albertsen readily admits he's not a classic petrolhead. “Don't get me wrong, I love cars. I just couldn’t see myself selling them for a living. And that's what I like about this business: it's a service industry. Ultimately, it's about people, not cars.”

GREAT OPPORTUNITIES Working in the leasing industry “wasn't planned. It just happened. However, the industry's been good to me –giving me great opportunities to grow. At every level, the challenges are different, allowing me to develop as a leader.”

What's the hardest part of his job? “We're bombarded with information, and it's increasingly hard to filter out the valuable information. Five years ago, executives could get away with a minimal understanding of technology – not any more. That's the price for living in an exciting time.”

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PROFOUND EXPERTISE Over the years, Albertsen has seen the business widen its focus. “In the Nineties, we addressed the mobility needs of large corporations and their fleets. At the start of the century, we also moved into the SME market. And since a few years, private customers want to benefit from our powerful products, large scale and profound expertise.”

The emphasis on the private market will change the way ALD does business, with more focus on digital platforms and flexible formulas. “The potential of the private market is enormous, but difficult to estimate. We're on track to have 150,000 units in private lease by 2019 and are aiming at 1 million by 2025 – which is a lot, considering our total fleet is about 1.5 million today.”

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE None of the innovations are entirely unexpected: “We were discussing these changes ten years ago already. It's just that the timing was off. As Bill Gates once said: Companies tend to overestimate the change that will occur in 2 years, yet underestimate change over 10 years.”

What is Albertsen's advice to young people in the industry today? “The better you're educated, the more interesting your jobs will be. It's vital to understand the world, so travel, get international experience, learn languages. Learn about how technology can affect your business. Finally, don't lose sight of social skills – absolutely vital to make teams work and achieve success.”

“I DON'T MISS THE DANISH TAX SYSTEM” Tim Albertsen grew up in Denmark and spent the first part of his career there.

Since 2010, he's lived in Paris. “I don't really miss Denmark. I'm in Copenhagen fairly often. If I want some special Danish dishes, I can get them here in Paris. I certainly don't miss the Danish weather, nor the Danish tax system (laughs).”

“But my wife and I do miss our sons Nicolai, 22, and Mikkel, 19, who've chosen to move back to Denmark for their studies. Also, Danish Christmas is special, and Copenhagen looks really pretty at that time of year.”

“What I like about Paris, is that it's a collection of neighbourhoods, each with their own little boulangerie, primeurs, boucheries, and so on. Each quartier has its own identity. Also, I admire the French for the effort they put in staying true to their culture and values.”

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BUSINESS

Bolder cars, better residuals Dieter Quartier @DieterQuartier

Two years after our first interview with Linda Jackson, Citroën’s brand CEO, we asked her what has changed and which direction is the brand heading in. Fertile fishing grounds, so it seems.

In 2016, you said Citroën needed to be different again, rather than blend in.

How has that materialised?

“What demonstrates this differentness best, is undoubtedly our product offering. If you take a look at the redesigned C4 Cactus, the new C3, the new C3 Aircross and the C5 Aircross, which will come to Europe later this year, they all bring a breath of fresh air to their segments. There are two major things that set our recent models apart: design and comfort. And we know this strategy is working, as every new model launched contributes to the sales growth we have been posting over the previous years. Even though our new design polarises opinions more than before, a stronger aesthetic statement is clearly getting us further than building cars that everybody qualifies as just nice”.

Linda JACKSON, CEO Citroën

Last year, you changed the signature from ‘Creative technologies’ to ‘Inspired by you’. What does that mean in practice?

“In Europe, we spend 4 years and 7 months in our cars on average during a lifetime.

And of course, we do much more than just drive: we laugh, we cry, we talk, we call.

With our new signature, ‘inspired by you’, we want to emphasize that we are close to our customers and that we listen to them. One of the things we learned from our customers, for example, is that they

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want personalisation. We have therefore increased the number of customisation possibilities. Also, our customers told us they needed an easier way to manage their vehicles. That is why we introduced Earn & Drive, for instance, a programme that allows you to earn back the monthly lease rate of your Citroën by renting it out when you are not using it. As a bonus, you get free parking and a free car-wash”.

Citroën wants to grow 30 percent globally by 2021. How will you succeed in achieving this ambitious target and what will be the role of B2B? “Thirty percent growth means a gradual growth across all sales channels, so not just in B2B. Still, I believe that the B2B share could grow thanks to the rise of private leasing. In terms of commercial vehicles: they represent roughly 30 percent of our sales. We will be entering new markets, such as Iran, which will give us the opportunity to sell more of them. At the same time, in general, we expect our new models to sell in bigger volumes than our older ones, not least our SUVs. Finally, our emphasis is on the TCO. Value retention is key and with our latest models we are seeing an increase in residual values. There are two elements at play: better quality and the fact that we have moved from a bigdiscount strategy to a fair-pricing policy”.

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BUSINESS

A giant Leaf forwards Dieter Quartier @DieterQuartier

Christophe de Beaumont has been heading Nissan’s European corporate sales department for almost a year. Time to ask about his strategy, not least regarding the brand-new Leaf.

Nissan has sold over 80,000 units of the first Leaf in Europe. What are your targets for the new generation Leaf and how will you achieve them?

“Learning from our customers, Nissan has developed what we believe is an incredibly attractive family car that makes electric driving more convenient than ever, not least thanks to its real-life WLTP range of 270 km. Also, it arrives at the right time: companies are clearly showing a strong interest in electric vehicles. That is why we are confident that sales will double over the next two years.”

What was your fleet customers’ feedback on the previous Leaf and how has Nissan translated this into improvements?

“Combined, our over 300,000 Leaf drivers worldwide have travelled more than 4 billion kilometres – much to their satisfaction, according to our surveys. The reliability of our batteries proved outstanding,

to say the least. Amongst the elements we improved on following demand from our customers are the battery range and the motor output and torque. Apart from that, we also improved NVH to make the ride even more quiet.”

Which other solutions make electric driving easier than before?

“Especially with fleet customers in mind, we developed a 22-kW on-board charger. This means that companies do not necessarily have to invest in a Wallbox to charge their cars at a medium pace. Moreover, Nissan will be adding over 1,000 quick-charging stations to the existing 4,600-strong ChaDeMo network in Europe.

Is the new Leaf TCO competitive compared to ICE models?

“It all depends on the market and its fiscal context, but according to our calculations, in many countries the new

Christophe DE BEAUMONT Head of Nissan Europe Corporate Sales

Leaf is cheaper to run than a petrol-engined Qashqai. Another major element is residual value,of course. Benchmark studies involving lease companies and RV setting organisms show that there is a sizeable gap between the old and the new Leaf. The new model promises to perform better on the used car market because of its bigger battery, inherent qualities and the EV experience Nissan has built up.”

COLOPHON EDITORS Steven Schoefs – Chief Editor sschoefs@nexuscommunication.be Céline Gilson – Project Coordinator cgilson@nexuscommunication.be Benjamin Uyttebroeck – Journalist buyttebroeck@nexuscommunication.be Christine Germain – Editorial Manager cgermain@nexuscommunication.be CONTRIBUTORS Stijn Blanckaert, Alison Campbell, Tim Harrup, Frank Jacobs, Jonathan Manning, Dieter Quartier EXPERT Richard Worrow, Dataforce Pictures: ©Shutterstock, Benjamin Brolet, Denis Erroyaux

FLEET EUROPE #96

Layout: Cible - www.cible.be SALES & MARKETING David Baudeweyns – Sales Director dbaudeweyns@nexuscommunication.be Julien Domken – International Key Account Manager jdomken@nexuscommunication.be Saskia Lannau – International Key Account Manager slannau@nexuscommunication.be Vincent Degives – Marketing Manager vdegives@nexuscommunication.be Virginie Emonts – Sales and Marketing Assistant vemonts@nexuscommunication.be

Aline Verpoorten – Internal Sales Assistant averpoorten@nexuscommunication.be Laura Petit – Sales and Marketing Assistant lpetit@nexuscommunication.be ADVERTISEMENTS SEAT (2), Daimler (8-9), Jaguar Land Rover (19), Kia (21), Hyundai (22), Skoda (28-29), Opel (33), Volvo (41), Kia (68).

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