Major car and van leasing fleets are pursuing transformative digitalisation strategies to support their move to become genuine all-round mobility providers.

Lessors are increasingly looking to third-party suppliers to power their digitalisation routes in the shift to mobility services, according to epyx

Automotive technology specialist epyx said the fleet sector is seeing many conversations taking place between leasing companies and technology providers, as lessors increasingly look to third-party suppliers to power their digitalisation routes in the shift to mobility services.

Debbie Fox, commercial director, explained: “It is no secret that major leasing companies believe that their future lies in becoming mobility providers for whom the fleet is just one part of a business transport portfolio that encompasses everything from e-bikes to car clubs to trains.

“However, creating the technology required to integrate these offerings in such a way that they are easily accessible by the end user is a considerable task and, at the end of the day, most lessors are vehicle asset experts rather than having any IT specialisation.”

Fox added that epyx was one of several major businesses involved in such dialogues, and the move could see firms that have traditionally created the technological infrastructure around fleet operations expand their work to provide extremely advanced mobility solutions.

She also said that extending the current automotive technology focus at epyx to mobility solutions such as car club and e-bike provision was “no great leap”.

“It is very much a logical extension of the services that we already provide to fleets in areas such as maintenance, car hire and remarketing.

“Conversations with leasing companies are ongoing and we are hopeful that 2022 will see these initial dialogues lead to the first wave of new deals in this area.”