Leasing trends Pt 1: Sustainability is new driver of leasing sector

With the clarity of the most compelling political messages, the blunt slogan from Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential bid still resonates today: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Those four words kept his election team focused amid the myriad distractions of the campaign trail.

Three decades on, the leasing sector could sum up its future in an similarly pithy phrase: “It’s sustainability, stupid.”

As companies emerge from the worst of the pandemic, the sustainability of their fleets and entire business operations has moved front and centre of corporate thinking.

With barely two vehicle replacement cycles left before the ban on the sale of new cars and vans with internal combustion engines (ICEs) comes into force, fleets of all sizes are investigating and implementing the electrification of their vehicles with unprecedented intensity.

The most obvious fleet route to net zero is the migration from ICE to electric, a transition that is placing new demands on leasing companies in both pricing and service delivery.