Mobilize Financial Services (MFS), a subsidiary of the Renault Group (ex-RCI Banque), is throwing itself further into the market of long-term rental and created Mobilize Lease&Co for all the Alliance brands, Renault, Dacia, Alpine, and Nissan.

The goal is to expand the lease fleet from 350 000 today to one million cars by 2030 and use the strength of Alliance’s dealership network to take the lead in private leasing and subscriptions, the latter via its Bipi subsidiary.

According to Deloitte G5 Europe, in 2030, private leasing will represent 62% of the car financing market in the main European countries compared to 36% in 2020.

Mobilize Lease&Co is to benefit from the 80% growth of the operating lease market and will be a common brand headed by Enrico Rossini for all markets in Europe and Latin America.

Competition is growing, and the financial branches of car manufacturers are competing with traditional banks for a piece of a lucrative market. BNP Paribas owns the leasing company Arval for instance, ALD, daughter of Société générale, just acquired LeasePlan, and French Crédit Agricole has entered a partnership with Stellantis.

Selling kilometers instead of cars

“With the creation of Mobilize Lease&Co, Mobilize Financial Services joins the Renault Group’s strategy to move from selling vehicles to selling kilometers and supports the sales of our automotive partners,” says João Leandro, CEO of MFS.

“Thanks to Mobilize Lease&Co, its customers will benefit from an all-in-one leasing package with the services that best meet their car usage, whether for a new, a used, a combustion, or an electric vehicle.”

EVs too expensive

One of the reasons is that electric cars remain (too) expensive for the average private car owner. As technology evolves rapidly, people start believing in rentals or subscriptions rather than owning a vehicle.

The customers benefit from an ‘all-in-one’ offer, including the vehicle and all associated services (maintenance, repairs, technical assistance, insurance, etc.). The same goes for the ‘subscription’ formula, with monthly payments but no long-term contract, like new players like Volvo-sister Lynk & Co or Chinese NIO are propagating.

In Spain, France, and Italy, Mobilize has been active with a subscription service since 2021. It acquired Bipi, a multi-brand platform offering car subscriptions for used vehicles, which turned out to be a growing segment.

Maximum flexibility

The subscription formula is positioned halfway between long-term rental formulae and short-term rental to offer maximum flexibility and freedom of choice to the user.

The customer can create a tailor-made subscription. He chooses the duration of use of the car (from 1 to 36 months) and can change the mileage, the category, or the model of the car according to his needs and can terminate the subscription at any time.

Today, operating lease, based on vehicle usage rather than its ownership, represents for Mobilize 350 000 contracts in different countries, which are structured in a specific way for each market but will be standardized. A million is the next target within this decade.