Paris, Friday, 27 March 2013 - 2012 was a year of stability for Arval's business, backed by its presence in the BRIT countries. It was also the year in which One Arval got launched: a strategic transformation programme for the company of which one of the pillars is to deliver unequalled service quality to its customers and drivers. 
In 2013, a new key project within this large-scale programme kicks off with Arval Smart Experience, of which the pilot phase will be launched in France in the spring.

Despite the economic slowdown in Europe with an accompanying drop in automobile business, Arval has managed to stay on track with a leased fleet of 688,734 vehicles (i.e. 0.3% up from 2011).
"Arval achieved better results than might have been expected in the light of the economic situation. Looking back, we can say that 2012 was a year of challenges, to which we were able to stand up thanks to our determination to develop and our efforts to improve the quality of our customer service," says Philippe Bismut, CEO of Arval.

Stability sustained by BRITs:

The BRIT countries continue to be active and hold great promise with growth of around 20% (Brazil 19%, India 20% and Turkey 18%).
This has helped to counterbalance the growth figures of the leased fleet in certain European countries, although most of them have succeeded in withstanding the effects of the European crisis, for instance Belgium (+20%), Romania (+17%), Luxembourg (+14%), Slovakia (+12%), the Czech Republic (+9%), Switzerland (+3%) and Italy (+3%).

• Arval MotorTrade, Arval's international e-commerce platform to which more than 10,000 car retailers subscribe, generated the resale of 7,800 vehicles per month in 2012.
• Arval Trading, an Arval subsidiary that specialises in export services and the resale of used cars  worldwide, buys second-hand vehicles from Arval subsidiaries and sells them to professionals in 35 countries, thereby contributing to optimise the resale value of Arval's vehicles. In 2012, Arval Trading sold nearly 15,000 vehicles, which is 31% more than in 2011.

Arval France leader in its full-service leasing market at the end of 2012

Arval France's leased fleet remained stable at 209,036 (down 0.7% from 2011).
With 60,662 new cars on the road (i.e. 5% down from 2011), Arval performed much better than the rest of the full-service leasing market which showed a 10% decline compared to 2011.
Arval's innovations, particularly those aimed at SMEs, proved to be growth drivers. The leaser developed offers by signing white-label partnerships with KIA and Hyundai, extending the latter to Spain and the Czech Republic. Similarly, in partnership with Orange, Arval launched "le Bureau Nomade" (the mobile office), combining the lease of a car with that of a touchpad.
Lastly, Arval France continued to improve its service quality through the deployment of the corporate programme One Arval. "In France, Arval was able to withstand market difficulties thanks to a strong innovation dynamic for which we relied on One Arval, a large-scale programme led by the group that makes customer service quality one of the pillars of our strategy," explains François-Xavier Castille, General Manager of Arval France.

One Arval, a long-term strategic programme that stimulates innovation to customers' benefit

In 2012, Arval deployed One Arval, a cross-cutting, multiyear programme to align methods between countries and harmonise practices for better customer service.
Depending on the country, this has led to a reorganisation of processes, teams and IT platforms and an overhaul of tools, always keeping the customer as focal point.
An example is the spreading of the Account Team model where all the operational people working on an account are gathered around a main contact person for each customer. The team can thus coordinate their actions to improve speed and efficiency.

In 2013, Arval launches a new project as part of One Arval and offers a unique experience to customers and drivers with Arval Smart Experience:

• Bringing efficiency and saving time for fleet managers:
  • Arval Connect: news streams from Arval Smart Experience's Twitter and Facebook accounts, videos of test drives and behind the scenes at Arval, and personalised practical guidebooks to supplement delivery information.
  • Arval Fleet View: key indicators concerning a fleet (composition, costs, emissions, utilisation rate…) presented in the form of simplified, visually self-explanatory data.

"Arval Smart Experience is a turning point in our customer relationship. Arval Smart Experience puts the focus on differentiating tools and services that enable us to give our customers daily support," says Arnaud Villeger, Marketing Director at Arval France. "To this end, we are making organisational changes in order to centre on the customer, we are developing digital innovations, we are directing our actions towards decision-makers in companies, and we are renewing our commitment in terms of CSR."

• Simple applications for drivers:

  44% of drivers do not know who their leaser is . For them, Arval is launching two practical applications from which they can learn:

  • Arval Mobile +: a secure "virtual wallet" given at delivery, that contains the car's registration document and, if the driver wants, his or her driver's licence. This personalised tool contains all the information on the vehicle, contract and services to which the company has subscribed for the driver. It also makes it easy to call Arval's Driver Service, for instance to make a maintenance appointment.
  • Arval Drive Challenge: this application encourages all drivers (whether or not they are driving an Arval car) to assess and improve their driving behaviour, and share their results on social networks. This "serious game" kicks off in May 2013 and will be available on Appstore and Google Play, and organised through Arval Smart Experience's Facebook and Twitter pages.

  Arval thereby offers its customers and all drivers a smart, enjoyable and innovative experience.

2013 will also see further developments in Arval's recent subsidiaries and for SMEs

In 2013, parallel to the One Arval programme and the launch of the Arval Smart Experience, Arval will continue to develop its new subsidiaries, particularly in China where the group will be delivering its first cars this year.
"All the major car manufacturers are in Asia, and Arval's prospects look promising in the medium and long term," says Philippe Bismut. "Five years ago we set up in India, an automobile market with excellent growth, and last year we started up business in China. The potential market is enormous and we are building a long-term strategy. We have considerable "evangelisation" work to do there, as full-service leasing is practically unknown in China today."
In the same way, pursuing growth in the SME market in France as well as most of the other group subsidiaries is one of Arval's main goals for 2013.

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