The leasing and fleet management giant said that its partnership activity largely contributed to this success with the signing of new contracts with car manufacturers and banking networks in 2015, which now represents 19% of the total fleet of ALD Automotive.

ALD now has a presence in 47 countries with 40 subsidiaries and four strategic partners, the latter covering seven countries.

The firm said its 2015 figures confirm its leading position in Europe with a significant increase in mature markets such as France, Britain and Italy but also in Poland, Turkey and Slovakia and Lithuania.

Last year also brought two acquisitions, in Spain with Gold Car Fleet while in December 2015, the company announced the acquisition of MKB Autoleasing in Hungary and Bulgaria. As a result in Hungary, ALD becomes a major player in the automotive fleet management market while in Bulgaria it said its leadership is reasserted.

ALD Automotive said it is also continuing its commercial development on other continents. This includes China, where it is significantly growing its fleet and Latin America, where it has consolidated its position with the opening of a subsidiary in Chile in early 2015. In addition in early 2016 ALD signed a deal with Compania General de Electricidad, winning the largest tender in Chile, with 950 vehicles in leasing.

With this new transaction and the recent opening of its subsidiary in Peru, ALD Automotive consolidates growth in its business in the automotive leasing market in the Latin America zone. ALD added that its growth is the result of the development of innovative solutions and said it is committed to developing concrete solutions to support fleet managers and enhance the driver experience.

Last year saw the firm launch a three-month challenge with all company employees plus students across a hundred schools worldwide to introduce new innovations.

The firm also continued its work on expanding the features of the My ALD portal and in 2016, ALD Automotive expects to continue the deployment of the tool on mobile devices and tablets.

Updates have also been made to the ALD NET management platform while in France, ALD Automotive has created its ALD Selection tool, said to be the first digital ecosystem that connects drivers, fleet managers, partners and service outlets as well as all the ALD Automotive teams. This will be built on early this year with the Conciergerie Automobile service in France, which diagnoses vehicle needs and sets up appointments over the phone. ALD is also offering a tyre replacement service in partnership with Allopneus.

Mike Masterson, CEO of ALD Automotive, said: “The increase of the fleet, our strengthened position on our historical markets and our international development are supporting the steady growth of ALD Automotive on the leasing market. With a growing offer of services such as IT and mobile tools, ALD Automotive supports its customers not only in managing and monitoring their leasing and vehicle contracts but in optimising driving and protecting environment.

“In 2016, ALD Automotive will keep on developing its coverage and will offer a wide range of modern solutions focused on delivering the best possible user experience.”