Arval grew both its UK and global leasing fleets in 2022 despite challenging conditions including the new car shortage.

Alain Van Groenendael, Arval chairman and CEO

Compared to 2021, the leasing and mobility specialist expanded its global leased fleet by 8.3%, including acquisitions, reaching a total of 1,592,024 vehicles. The rise includes two bolt-on acquisitions in 2022: Terberg Business Lease Group and BCR’s leasing activities. With these acquisitions extracted, the business saw a 5.5% organic growth for the leasing fleet.

Across the global leased fleet, 1,082,503 vehicles were in the global corporate finance segment. Meanwhile the retail segment numbered to 454,062 vehicles in 2022 (437,445 excluding acquisitions); up 13% on 2021 and showing the growing interest of SMEs and private individuals for leasing, despite the challenging context. Its mid-term rental fleet grew by 48% globally.

Arval also added around 300,000 electrified vehicles to its fleet at the end of 2022, up fourfold on 2019. It also continued its drive on sustainable mobility solutions; as of the end of December 2022, bike leasing was present in 13 countries and car sharing in 11 countries.

In the UK, the company increased its total leased fleet by 2.5% to 187,208 vehicles in 2022. Of this, the corporate financed fleet accounted for 74,684 vehicles and the primary segment for electric vehicle adoption. The retail segment amounted to 108,173 vehicles while the mid-term rental fleet grew by 58%.

Almost 54,000 electrified vehicles were added on the UK side last year, of which almost 29,000 were battery electric.

Lakshmi Moorthy, Arval UK managing director, said: “Our UK customers are forging a path in the electrification of our global fleet, achieving their own sustainable mobility goals and adding almost 29,000 zero-emission electric vehicles to the country’s roads in a year.

“The future will see an increased drive to also help commercial vehicle customers to transition to the same zero-emission vehicles and a move to support all customers (and their employees) as the cost of living continues to rise, through tax efficient products like Ignition for salary sacrifice and used car leasing via Arval Re-Lease. Additionally, we will increase the range of products on offer, adding new mobility solutions and flexible subscriptions, while continuing to provide best in class services to fleets of all sizes, brokers, dealers and individual drivers. We’d like to thank all our customers and partners for their continued support through a challenging period for our industry.”

The business also said its global figures show a very positive outlook halfway through its Arval Beyond 2020-2025 strategic plan.

Alain van Groenendael, chairman and CEO, commented: “Despite a challenging 2022 environment, Arval successfully continued to support its client thanks to a resilient business model and its capacity to offer new innovative solutions. Backed by the strong strategic ambitions of the BNP Paribas Group in the field of mobility, Arval will pursue its growth trajectory in 2023, further advancing its Arval Beyond strategy. We will continue to strengthen our growth by innovating, by further supporting our customers in their energy transition and providing them with sustainable mobility offers across all our countries.”

Plans for 2023 include the effective implementation of the strategic partnership between Jaguar Land Rover and BNP Paribas to launch a suite of new mobility financing services across nine European markets. It’s the first phase of a transformational plan to reimagine the role of financial services for Jaguar Land Rover clients.

The Element-Arval Global Alliance will also continue to provide added value for Arval’s international clients. Now in 53 countries, the partnership has managed to increase its number of shared clients fourfold in less than 10 years.

Arval will also release its annual financial results on 6 March 2023.