Features
3 Feb 15

FlexDrive reaps the reward

At the Fleet Europe Awards ceremony in Hamburg in November, Athlon won the International Fleet Industry Award for its FlexDrive programme. This programme, as its name suggests, gives drivers options beyond just a company car. We look at some of the features which merited the jury’s vote, and speak to two people who operate the programme in practice: Rob Custers, Corporate Supply Chain & Procurement South West Europe for Siemens, and Cécile Liénard, the Product Manager at Athlon in Belgium.

Every lease driver can sign up for the ‘FlexDrive’ formula and the concept behind it is quite simple. An employee who has the opportunity to order a new company car will be given a budget. The philosophy behind FlexDrive is to enable him of her to spend this budget as well and as effectively as possible.

With FlexDrive, the employee does not have to spend the budget all at once and all on one car, but can choose a smaller car or a less powerful engine, or fewer options, so that there is some budget left over each month. The driver is then free to spend this saved up budget as he or she wishes on other forms of mobility.

A car for the weekend

A monospace people carrier during the summer holidays, a convertible for a weekend, a moving van for a single day... and accessories are also among the options. These could include a ski-box, a trailer, a bicycle rack or a folding bike. FlexDrive also allows employees to rent a car abroad when travelling by air.

Cécile Liénard, Product Manager of Athlon Car Lease in Belgium, also confirms that, in practice drivers are very keen on taking a larger car in order to go away for the weekend, and on being able to hire a car when abroad. 

Integrated solution

It is important to see how this Athlon product integrates into customers’ operations in practical terms, in the eyes of Rob Custers, Corporate Supply Chain & Procurement South West Europe for Siemens. He explains that along with Athlon Car Lease, Siemens started this mobility concept in order to respond to employee questions regarding the company offering in terms of company cars. 

You can read the complete article in the January issue of Fleet Europe magazine. If you don't have your subscription to Fleet Europe magazine yet, visit our e-Shop and order your international car fleet magazine today.

Authored by: Steven Schoefs