Fabio Costa, LeasePlan Brazil: "Still much potential"
Among the goals of international automobile leasing company LeasePlan is the use of more electric vehicles and closing more corporate contracts in Brazil. Global Fleet talks with LeasePlan Brazil's CEO Fabio Costa about these and other topics.
Could you tell me a little about LeasePlan Brazil's coverage area and the most important services the company offers?
LeasePlan provides full service operational leasing throughout all of Brazil, even for companies in remote areas representing industries of high demand such as agricultural, mining, and others.
Besides helping our clients assess the best vehicle choices for their businesses, we assist them with the maintenance of their automobiles, the acquisition of tires and other wear and tear items, and other issues such as managing road fees, car taxation, insurance, traffic tickets, telematics, and vehicle remarketing. Basically, we handle it all.
What differentiates LeasePlan from its competitors?
What differentiates us from other fleet management companies is that we are highly focused on consultancy, something that enables us to implement long-term plans for our clients' fleets. We help them to control cost by offering the best solution for their business while keeping their "wheels in motion", or in other words, making our clients extremely productive.
LeasePlan also offers fleet management only services for clients who have not yet outsourced their fleets. For customers who still own cars, we can increase their productivity by supporting them with the transition to full service. We offer a Sale & Lease Back product in which we buy the clients’ fleet and then lease it out with all of our services tacked on to it.
In each case, we are able to create a customize solution to match our client's needs.
This is a great option for companies in Brazil that need cash right now, and are willing to immediately count on all of the services we have to offer.
Finally, one thing I'd like to point out is that 86% of our clients rated our service as excellent in our latest satisfaction survey, which was carried out by an independent company
Which industries do LeasePlan serve the most?
Well, we manage fleets for a number of local and international clients from various industries, including chemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, financial services, and others.
Do you see vehicle leasing - for the private car owner - as a challenge or an opportunity?
Private car leasing in Brazil remains a challenge but there is still much potential. However, we are focused on the corporate sector as this poses much opportunity as well. Companies in Brazil have yet to fully experience the benefits of fleet outsourcing and TCO reduction.
Through global transport initiative EV100, LeasePlan intends to have all of its employees driving electric cars by 2021. Does this plan include Brazil and do you think the country's infrastructure will be ready in time?
Electric vehicles are "what's next" today, and this is a LeasePlan initiative which certainly includes Brazil. As one of the founding partners of the EV100 initiative, we are highly ambitious in facilitating the switch to electric mobility. However, owing to the lack of options in the market and the infrastructure in Brazil, we will gradually make this move by first bringing hybrid vehicles into the picture.
Currently, our fleet is running on sugar cane based ethanol, another important type of energy that contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Could you give me an idea of the company's revenue performance?
Despite the economic recession, LeasePlan Brazil has reported healthy profit over the last five years, averaging 16% compound annual growth on revenue. It also experienced another record result during the first semester of this year and we are expecting an excellent performance in 2017.
As for next year, we intend to continue our global strategy of bringing new developments to Brazil through the introduction of our newest digital platform.
