Published on 13 March 2007

The conference covered a wide range of issues of importance to the fleet manager and the fleet leasing industry.

In the Global Strategic Overview, Jonathan Kaehne from Accenture highlighted the importance of the growth of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The rapid growth of these economies is changing the entire consumer landscape, with over three billion new consumers expected to enter the global market within the next fifty years. China’s rapid growth in the vehicle market has been exemplified by the takeover of MG Rover.

Shanghai automotive set up a plant to produce Rover cars in Oklahoma in less than two years, when all commentators expected the plant to take around ten years to be fully operational. In his global overview Jonathan also highlighted the continued reliance on oil: with depletion of oil stocks, the development of hydrogen and electric motors do not represent a solution to global energy requirements, as these technologies are merely an energy storage mechanism.

A panel discussion on new vehicle development continued the focus on engine design and fuel technology. The speakers on the panel were Bruce Priddle from Ford, Ian McCleave of GM Holden, Malcolm Ryan of Kia and Colin Shaw of Mitsubishi. All the manufacturers mentioned the efforts they were making to improve the efficiency of petrol engines and reduce emissions. While research continues into alternative fuels, it is believed that hydrogen-powered cars are still around forty years from becoming a commonplace reality due to the considerable infrastructure requirements. The environmental credentials of hybrid cars were also questioned, given the additional energy costs associated with manufacture and disposal of hybrid components at the end of a vehicle’s life.

The fleet leasing discussion panel featured Mark Couter of Custom Fleet, Derrick Ginger of Fleet Australia, Simon Froude of Fleet Partners, Michael Mitrovits of Interleasing, Spiro Haralambopoulos of Leaseplan and Ed Stanistreet of Toyota Financial Services. During this panel, environmental concerns were again apparent, with the ‘green move’ represented in the rise of light car sales - up by 21% in 2007, compared to an 18% drop in heavy car sales. Hybrid cars saw the biggest rise in the market - up by 98% - but still only representing 0.3% of the market. Despite such green concerns, Michael Mitrovits from Interleasing believes that only the tax system has the real power to make greener cars mainstream. He believes that the current trends reflect the fact that ‘being green’ is currently fashionable among consumers, but long-term changes would require financial incentives.