The firm, Europe’s largest independent fleet management provider, has set up its new operation in Israel’s economic capital, Tel Aviv, in conjunction with a local partner in the automotive market, NG Group, which is an automotive services and consultancy specialist.

NG Group, with its HQ in Israel, operates in more than 30 countries worldwide providing training and consultancy services to a wide cross section of clients, including many of the leading motor manufacturers.

Owner and president, Rami Jaulus, commented: ‘We look forward to collaborating together and believe this is the beginning of a wonderful journey.’  

The move into Israel is in response to the requests of several international clients of FLI with operations and trading subsidiaries in Israel, operating fleets of company cars.

Israel has a total car park of around 2.4 million cars, of which 300,000 are owned by companies and more than 200,000 are funded by operating leases. The local market has a large number of businesses in the IT and technology sectors where company cars are an accepted part of the remuneration package.

While there are currently no major international leasing companies operating in the region, there are five main national leasing operators which provide full service leasing to business customers at a country level.

The initial development work for Fleet Logistics is led by business development manager Simon Spremberg, who has set up relationships to leasing companies, begun the training of the local staff and started the implementation of the first two customers onto the Fleet Logistics’ systems.

FLI’s business development director, Marcus Hennecke, commented: ‘We are confident that with FLI’s large fleet management experience and well developed IT systems in conjunction with the local market knowledge of our partner, we will be able to enter this market successfully. We see potential for significant cost savings and operational improvements for our clients in the region.’

Fleet Logistics chief executive officer, Rainer Laber, added: ‘The opening of our first operation in Israel continues to complete the Fleet Logistics’ picture across mainland Europe and the Near East. In Israel, where we do not have the benefit of the footprint of our owner, TÜV SÜD, our preferred method of entry into the country has been through a supplier relationship with an established and existing player.’