Features
8 nov 17

Turkey offers growth potential and embraces innovation

Turkey is not scared of innovation and in many ways is a world leader in demonstrating its capability. This ethos is entrenched in the vehicle fleet and leasing market as an enabler for growth.

 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise; Turkey has some of the earliest advanced civilisations known to man. The country has a growing young, urban demographic with an appetite for smartphone apps and new ways for getting around. But car ownership still lags behind Europe at just 127 (passenger car penetration per thousand population).

 

This is good news for the vehicle leasing market because it establishes clear potential for growth but it has to be done through innovation, addressing the market for mobility, driver safety and vehicle ‘usership’ (rather than ownership).

 

Other stimuli for innovation in the Ottoman republic include growing urbanisation, worsening traffic jams and increasing travel needs, particularly among 25-34 year olds.

 

New innovation services

 

The use of mobile apps is accepted at the larger end of the company spectrum. Remote access to car data and consolidated dashboard apps is being implemented widely in fleet management.

 

Car sharing has growth potential for Turkish companies. The new generation of employees find it easy to accept the concept. YOYO is Turkey’s leading vehicle sharing platform. Established in 2012, the firm focuses on 25-34 year olds in major cities and has diversified into motorcycles and EVs. But pricing for it has been problematic due to tough competition.

 

As fleet managers experience the growing perception among young employees of the value of car sharing, the focus is shifting from total cost of ownership to total cost of mobility.

 

Ali Kemal Uluer, general manager of VDF Filo (a Volkswagen Financial Services company) had this to say: “GPRS systems for driver behaviour reporting have been used in Turkey for a long time and recently telemetry system have become popular. Fleet managers use these to control fuel, accident management and insurance costs.”

 

Timur Kaçar, ALD Automotive Turkey, comments: “Innovation is at the core of priorities for providing mobility solutions in Turkey. The leasing industry is no exception and we’ve known this for a long time. The MyALD web portal provides fleet managers with detailed information regarding fleet contracts, maintenance history, fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and more.”

 

Ahead of the game in terms of digital platforms

 

Turkey is among one of the top countries in which digital platforms are widely adopted. Fleet and leasing suppliers that place importance on this and are capable of offering speed and efficiency are one step ahead of their rivals.

 

Fuel management is innovative. Drivers do not need to provide a card to buy fuel in Turkey. Their employer negotiates a contract with the fuel supplier and they can fill up without a card.

The fuel is billed twice a month to the company. This helps control fuel costs and consumption.

 

Philippe Chabert, general manager, TEB Arval, says: “Strong digital capability is our first priority, which is why we’ve always been working on increasing user experience on our digital tools. My TEB Arval Mobile offers functions tailored to driver mobility needs: responsiveness, time-saving and optimised organisation.”

 

The company has also recently launched a telematics tool Arval Active Link, which delivers automatic and real-time treatment of data collected directly from vehicles. It increases the fleet manager’s ability to monitor and control fleet costs such as fuel consumption, average CO2 emissions, mileage, travel time, vehicle usage, driving behaviour and many more parameters.

 

Özlem Can from DRD has this to say: “Digitalization is now the main trend, apart from that, the use of CRM is becoming more common at the point of providing better service and customer recognition.” It should know, being Turkey’s largest operational fleet leasing brand.

 

Providers of operating leases in Turkey are setting themselves up as mobility partners to their customers. Technology and innovation are key enablers in high-growth potential markets like this and will ensure this Turkish republic keeps leading the way.

Authored by: Alison Pittaway