BMW Group subsidiary Alphabet is currently represented in 19 markets and in 2013, the company operated some 536,000 vehicles on its mixed fleet, including BMW Group models. Germany, the Netherlands and the UK are the company’s biggest markets followed by France and Spain, making Europe the focus of Alphabet’s business.

In addition, the company has an operation in Australia and is looking at other markets in Europe and around the world in its strategic growth plan. The company also plans to continue growing the business in its existing markets.

In January Alphabet International appointed Carsten Kwirandt as head of Marketing and Business Development.

He succeeds Dr Nancy Storp, who has taken up a new Marketing Communications role within the BMW Group.

Carsten was previously head of Alphabet’s eMobility Fleet Business Project, where he planned and oversaw the rollout of the company’s AlphaElectric Business Mobility solution.

He originally joined the BMW Group in 2001.

How does he see Alphabet’s business developing in future?

‘We consider ourselves to be the most innovative leader in business mobility – and that comes back to the fact that we introduced corporate car sharing with AlphaCity and now we have launched AlphaElectric in 9 markets to be the holistic emobility approach for our corporate customers. We will launch AlphaElectric in 4 more markets in 2014 and will launch AlphaCity in more markets this year too.

‘When talking about the mobility needs of our customers, I believe we shall be focussing on these new innovative mobility solutions, such as corporate car sharing. It is still in the development phase, but it is being requested by customers and the same applies to e-mobility. We can see our competitors and OEMs are lining up in those fields. We have already entered those fields and that’s why I believe there is a strong anchor to grow our business further in the future, but we must not forget our classical business, operational leasing, either.’

Conventional cars are likely to be the mainstay of fleet needs for some time yet, but how much demand is there now for things like e-mobility and car sharing? ‘If you look back in the recent past, there has been an iconic change in the car industry,’ says Carsten. ‘If I remember, my father paid cash when he bought his first car, then after a while it was quite usual to finance a car, then came leasing and now people are talking about car sharing.

'I don’t know what my children will be talking about, but if you look at Facebook and Twitter, you share everything. ‘That is an analogy, but if you look at our corporate business, the needs that originally came from financial leasing and then emerged through operational leasing will be mobility solutions.

'We must embrace customer needs and we must not impose what we believe is right for our customers. If I were to do that, I would just stick to operational leasing.

‘But this is not the future world for mobility. The customer is asking for more ways of becoming mobile and staying mobile, at whatever location he or she is at.

‘Then the corporation or employer comes into the picture. The user-chooser has certain demands. Part of his or her salary package may be a car today, but in the future it may be mobility. We need to carefully listen to what the market is telling us, to develop exactly the right product. The market tells us there is a strong demand for car sharing, so we deliver car sharing. There’s a strong demand for e-mobility, you can see the Teslas, the Leafs, the Zoes, the i3s on the road, so we will deliver e-mobility. But what comes with it is not only to deliver the product itself but the attached services around it.'

Carsten gives the example of e-mobility where the customer takes delivery of an electric vehicle but then needs information about how and where the vehicle can be re-charged.

‘You need to understand the customer’s needs in order to consult him in the right way so that you can fulfil the customer’s expectations.’

Understanding those customer needs is not always easy, involving insight into a range of issues including technology, infrastructure, the law and finance.

‘Many people are driven by TCO (total cost of ownership),’ says Carsten. ‘But the future might be TCM (total cost of mobility).’

AlphaCity offers keyless entry to a car enabling corporate customers to use cars for business travel and also to rent out cars to employees for private use. Currently the product is only available with BMW Group vehicles. At the moment AlphaCity is available in 7 markets and it will become available in others.

Italy is a target market for 2014 and it will probably reach Australia before long.

‘We are extending our services because we want to have these products as standard products available in all markets where Alphabet is present,' says Carsten.

This is mainly because international customers may want to use AlphaCity in more than one country, ‘I believe that if you have the right technology and you can control this technology, then corporate customers are willing to invest in bigger fleets for corporate car sharing and this is the constant feedback I am getting when talking to our customers – that there is a growing demand for the car sharing offer.’

Renting cars to employees, as AlphaCity enables is a good example of how traditional leasing must adapt to future needs, involving the end user more. How will Alphabet adapt?

‘More and more consulting is necessary now and will be more so in the future,’ thinks Carsten.

‘Products will become more complex. Corporate car sharing is not an easy product, e-mobility sounds easy, but you need to consult properly to sell it. The traditional way of selling operational leasing also needs proper consulting.’