15.8% growth for Spanish vehicle fleet market in 2016

In another news topic we reported on the excellent overall performance of the new vehicle markets of Southern Europe, including Spain. Of particular interest is how the vehicle fleet business segment is contributing to the figures. And the conclusion is that also the corporate fleet market in Spain performed really well in 2016.

Spanish fleet magazine, Fleet People, has analysed the vehicle fleet market. Total new fleet sales (passenger cars and LCVs) in Spain in 2016 amounted to 328,000, up by 15.8% from the 283,000 of 2015. This means that in 2016, vehicle fleet sales accounted for around 28.5% of the entire car market. Of particular note within these figures is the fact that the operational leasing segment contributed 205,500 units to the fleet total, almost two out of every three cars in this channel, and around 15.3% of the total Spanish vehicle market. This is an all-time record, beating the 203,000 units of 2007, the last year before the crisis hit.

Car fleet renewal and economic optimism
To understand the reasons for the successful fleet year 2016, Juan Arús, Director and Publisher of Fleet People in Spain points out to the financial crisis, starting in 2008: “The crisis hit the Spanish market more than many other European countries, and the corporate fleet market was not an exception. The fear to invest in new cars or renewing the fleet grew. So, in the last 24 months, and specifically in 2016, car fleet sales spread —the average of duration of car leasing contracts passed from 47,21 months in 2014 to 46 months in 2016— mainly because of the better conditions of the economy and of one more important ítem: the urgent need for car fleet renewals by the companies. A third element, not a good one for the sustainability of the fleet market, also played its role: the high number of self-registrations contributed supported a little inflation of the fleet market, like also “car rental sales” legally typified as “renting sales”, has supported the corporate sales and lease market.”

Peugeot leading
Where the best-selling brands in 2016 fleet sales in Spain are concerned, the market leader is Peugeot with some 29,500 units sold, 8.1% up on 2015. This gives Peugeot 9% of the corporate fleet market in 2016. Volkswagen follows in second place with just under 27,000 units, an increase of 14.3% on its 2015 total, and giving it a fleet market share of 8.2%. Renault is close behind in third place with 26,000 units, a full 27.7% up on the previous year and an 8% share of this market. Premium brands Mercedes-Benz and BMW make up the top five fleet market sellers.

Moving on to the individual models to have attracted fleet drivers and fleet managers in Spain last year, the number one model is the Peugeot 308, which just nudges the SEAT Leon into second place by around 125 units. Both models saw sales of just over 10,000 units into the car fleet sector in Spain in 2016. The Citroën C4 is only 500 or so units behind in third, and the top five is completed by the Renault Mégane and Nissan Qashqai.
 

TOTAL FLEET MARKET (BASED ON VAT NUMBER) IN UNITS

If we look at the car lease market, we see a slightly different picture when it comes to brand popularity. According to Fleet People, Renault is here the number 1 brand with, followed by Volkswagen, Peugeot, SEAT and Audi.

Just to make a small comparison, and to look forward to this year, sales through the private channel in 2016 in Spain recorded an increase of a much more modest 6.7% (just under half of the increase for the fleet market). Spanish automotive association Anfac is predicting a total new vehicle market of 1.2 million units for 2017, around 4% up on 2016. A similar optimism for the 2017 corporate sales market in Spain.
Once again Juan Arús of Fleet People: “With a new Spanish government in the pipeline and relative good economic conditions, there are reasons to be optimistic for 2017. Various experts and consultants, like Spain’s main car leasing association predict a growth of 5% for the car lease business. This confirms the stabilization of the Spanish fleet industry that even could be encouraged if also this year new SME’s will pop up. In 2016 almost 5,000 new SME’s were created in Spain, and also the number of self-employed independent workers increased significantly to 24.500 people in 2016.”

More detailed information about the corporate sales market in Spain can be found on the website of Fleet People.