Top vehicle leasing firms accused of weak climate leadership

Europe’s top vehicle leasing companies have been accused of failing to deliver on the green agenda by environmental lobby group Transport and Environment (T&E).

The firms analysed in the report are Volkswagen Financial Services, Mobilize Financial Services, ALD Automorive LeasePlan (which announced its rebranding to Ayvens this week), Arval, Leasys, Alphabet and Athlon.

It said that ALD Automotive LeasePlan is the only leasing company with a target for the uptake of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) that is more ambitious than carmaker production plans.

Others, it claimed, have weak or no targets for the uptake of BEVs.  

T&E also accused data disclosure by the leasing firms as poor. They do not publish data on new car registrations and types of vehicles leased in EU countries, making it difficult to track progress on electromobility, it said.

All seven leasing companies were contacted by T&E to submit data on their car fleets.

Using 2023 registrations in France and Italy - the only two EU countries where car registrations are recorded per company - the analysis shows that all of the leasing companies have a lower BEV uptake than the general market in France and three of the leasing companies (Leasys, Alphabet, Athlon) also lag behind the market in Italy.

T& E says that Arval, ALD Automotive LeasePlan and Mobilize are “electromobility laggards” in their largest market, France, while Leasys is a laggard in its largest market, Italy.

All three have been asked to comment on the report.

The analysis grades companies according to three further criteria, relating to CO2 emissions, share of plug-in hybrids (PHEV), and share of large cars. On most criteria, the leasing giants are failing to act as green leaders, T&E says.

Stef Cornelis, director of electric fleets at T&E, said: “Lack of transparency, weak climate targets, and poor uptake of battery electric cars in two key markets - the track record of the largest leasing companies is very far from where it should be.

“These auto giants should move away from the fossil era much more quickly and fully embrace the electric age. Only then will they become the green leaders they claim to be.” 

The investigation also accused six out of seven leasing companies for greenwashing and misleading customers with green claims about electromobility.

Except for ALD Automotive LeasePlan, statements of green leadership made by the six others could not be backed-up by evidence and were deemed to be untrue, T&E said.

T&E highlights how Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS) - the EU’s largest leasing company - says it is “driving the transition to zero-emission mobility”,  but claims the study finds the company has higher CO2 emissions from new registrations compared to the rest of the market in France (111 vs 99g/km of CO2) and Italy (126 vs 120g/km of CO2) over the first half of 2023.

A spokesperson for Volkswagen Financial Services UK, said: “We are committed to electrification, and are advocating for our fleet customers to transition to EVs.

"In our UK Fleet operations in 2022, EVs made up 46.8% of our total order bank, in comparison, EVs accounted for 16.6% of all UK new vehicle registrations.

"We continue to support fleets with their EV transition, offering expert advice and innovative solutions to help businesses on that journey.

“Globally, Volkswagen Group is aiming for a BEV market share of 8-10% in 2023, rising to more than 50% by 2030 worldwide, and more than 70% in Europe.”

Arval has said it is “committed to growing share of EVs at twice the pace of the market". Arval disclosed an electric car uptake of 36.4% in the first half of 2023 which is not twice the market (21.7%), says T&E.

Arval have been asked to comment.

Cornelis said: “The world is phasing out fossil fuels. Why not leasing companies? With such power and resources, they have the ability to switch to electromobility much quicker than they are doing so far in the EU.

“They have a real opportunity to move from climate laggards to green leaders if they stop leasing fossil fuel cars by 2028. So why miss this chance?”

T&E is calling upon these seven companies to set a 100% BEV target by 2028, at the latest.

The Fleet News FN50 leasing insight report, which is published on November 1 at the FN50 dinner, reveals that BEVs account for almost 27% of the combined funded car fleet (up from 17% last year) and more than 31% of orders over the past 12 months. Look out for the report for full details.