Arval has announced the opening of a new entity in China. It is run by Mathias de Toldi, formerly general manager of Arval Morocco. The opening of this new Chinese entity signals Arval’s arrival in a market with strong growth potential, and will allow the company to offer its future customers in China dedicated mobility solutions for their staff, based on expert advice and service quality.

China, with a total of 114 million vehicles on the road in June 2012, an expected 20 million new registrations for 2012, and only some 30,000 vehicles under full-service leasing contracts, represents an enormous market potential for players in the full-service leasing sector. Chinese companies or those established in China, as in most emerging countries, still mostly prefer buying to leasing. For the moment, the local full-service leasing market remains limited in size and is today, with the exception of one international operator, essentially divided among a multitude of local players.

“Our arrival in the country will contribute to making the market more mature, promote a professional approach and further the concept of full-service leasing. We shall be able to put forward our TCO* approach which at present is not taken into account when a local company chooses a vehicle,” says de Toldi.

In China, Arval also has a role to play in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This notion has now become a key topic in the country, with the government recently proclaiming Sustainable Development as a “national priority”. Arval will therefore promote greener car fleet practices on the market, showing companies how to combine CSR with lower costs. In time, Arval’s full Product and Services catalogue will be available on the Chinese market.

Arval’s headquarters is in Beijing, but the company also has offices in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou. In a follow-up phase, other offices will open in Tianjin as well as in Nanjing, to support the partnership that BNP Paribas has formed with Bank of Nanjing, the region’s leading bank.

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