Mauricio Medina, AMAVe: The future of mobility is EVs

Due to the evolving nature of the vehicle leasing and fleet management industry in Latin America, Fleet LatAm organized a brief chat with one of the key players in the region, Mauricio Medina who is president of Mexico vehicle leasing association AMAVe.

For more insight on what is happening in Latin America, register now for the next Fleet LatAm Business Networking Group session on 25 January. The topic of the day will be TCO evolution.

Like many of us know, impacting the industry today are supply chain issues and the transition to electrification. Let’s see what Mr. Medina has to say.  

How do you see fleet management and vehicle leasing evolving in Mexico, and do you see the same trends taking place in other countries throughout Latin America? 

Leasing is becoming more relevant every day in Latin America. In Mexico, at the end of 3Q21, AMAVe partnership members grew 11% year-over-year and 1.3% compared to 2Q21. 

Moreover, vehicles leased with fleet management represented 59% of the market in the third quarter of 2021, representing a 28% increase from the same period in 2020. 

I’d like to point out however, due to the scarcity of parts for vehicle production, leasing companies have been facing difficulties in meeting demand, both in terms of first and last mile utility vehicles as well as executive cars.
 
Despite this, leasing continues to be one of the most efficient tools for companies. This is due to tax benefits and above all, to the flexibility of schemes available as leasing companies are set on being a strategic part of each organization they work with.

Regarding trends and electric mobility issues, leasing companies in Mexico are increasingly betting on and promoting the use of electric vehicles (EV). Although as a country we still have a great challenge in terms of electric mobility, the industry is working from a variety of perspectives to achieve increasingly greener fleets.

As you know, supply chain issues are certainly impacting the vehicle acquisition industry today.  What are some of the solutions to dealing with the lack of vehicles and their components and parts? 

Of course, the lack of microprocessors and other parts greatly affect the inventory of each brand. And like I said, it is making it a bit difficult for lessors to meet demand. 

However, we have determined action plans that allow us to offer the same type of vehicle or vehicles but from other brands, or even to offer used cars.

In the end, our main intention is to ensure that our customers are satisfied with the options available. We are always looking for a way to resolve the issues at hand.

Electric and hybrid vehicles get a lot of press coverage today.  Is it really that important in Mexico? 

Without a doubt, we are convinced that the future of mobility in Mexico and the world is EVs. For AMAVe members, we saw a 7% increase in EVs in 3Q21 compared to 2Q21 and the trend continues.

This shows a change in consumer behavior. They are looking at these options, not only for environmental benefits but also for the tax benefits offered in the country. 

Worldwide, an exponential growth trend in the sale of hybrid and electric vehicles started around 2015. Although the COVID-19 pandemic slowed sales down, we are now expecting a recovery in one to three years-time, depending on the region of the world.

It has been shown that the cost-benefit of these types of vehicles is higher than expected and I can say that leasing is the financial product helping consumers see the viability of the green vehicle trend.

And as leasing plans are quite flexible, customers can “test” the benefits of EVs by first using them in part of their operations and then incrementally increasing thereafter. 

With that said, I’d like to emphasize that AMAVe is committed to a greener and low-emission world. In addition to promoting this through the development of alliances, we put together events such as our 5th Annual Forum 2021.

AMAVe members, courtesy of AMAVe

Besides highlighting the benefits of vehicle leasing in Mexico, the forum addresses economic challenges, the trends at hand, and ways in which technology can optimize vehicle fleet management from a sustainable mobility perspective.

Currently, several AMAVe partners are working with various companies, helping them to transform their delivery and car sharing fleets to an EV mobility scheme.