Consolidation ahead for Europe’s vehicle leasing sector

Momentum behind consolidation in Europe’s vehicle leasing industry is gathering pace, with size and scale delivering increasing competitive advantages.

International leasing firm Business Lease, part of the AutoBinck Group, has completed the sale of two of its operations, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to Belgium-based KBC Group for €72 million. The two subsidiaries will be integrated into KBC’s CSOB Leasing, accelerating the firm’s growth in Central Europe.

Vincent Weijers, AutoBinck Group chief executive, said the sale formed part of a broader strategy in response to consolidation in the European fleet leasing market.

“Amid rapid market consolidation, partnering with larger players offers the best path for future growth,” he said.

ALD’s acquisition of LeasePlan to create Ayvens fired the starting gun of this process, and the merged firm’s latest financial results reveal a sharp increase in profitability as its cost-to-income ratio improved by 7.1 percentage points in 2025. Synergies from the integration of ALD and LeasePlan reached €357 million in 2025.

Chief rival Arval has entered exclusive negotiations to buy multi-marque international leasing company Athlon from Mercedes-Benz Group, a move that would create a multinational fleet of 2.3 million vehicles.

Meanwhile, BMW Financial Services’ multi-marque leasing company Alphabet has grown its fleet to more than 800,000 vehicles for the first time.

Competing with these behemoths is an increasing challenge for other lenders, given their procurement power and the scale they bring to the market. Arval’s captive insurance company, Greenval, now insures more than one million vehicles across Europe.

Vehicle leasing is a growth market in many European countries – in Spain, 22.2% of all vehicles registered last year were leased, according to the Asociación Española de Leasing y Renting, as the sector grew its fleet size by 4.7% year-on-year.

Elsewhere, partnerships between banks and OEMs came to the fore last month.

Honda signed a new pan-European partnership with Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility to provide financing solutions for cars and motorcycles in Italy, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The agreement includes retail finance for private and business customers, leasing and long-term rental solutions, as well as wholesale and inventory financing for dealerships.

And Bank of Ireland has launched a fully integrated online car-purchasing platform with BYD Ireland.

Customers will be able to browse vehicles and apply for finance on the same website, with the promise of a seamless, end-to-end digital journey.

New car sales in Ireland were up 3% year-on-year in 2025, in a European Union market that nudged 1.8% higher to 10,822,831 registrations. Hybrid-electric vehicles proved to be the most popular powertrain, accounting for 34.5% of all new registrations, compared to a 17.4% share for battery electric models.

EU van registrations fell by 8.8% in 2025, with declines concentrated in the bloc’s largest markets. France recorded the steepest fall at 5.6%, followed by Germany (-5.4%) and Italy (-5%). Spain stood out as an exception, registering a strong 11.7% increase. Electrically-chargeable vans continued to gain traction, reaching an 11.2% market share, up from 6.1% in 2024.

But truck registrations declined by 6.2% to 307,460 units in 2025, driven by a 5.4% fall in heavy-truck sales and a 9.9% drop in the medium-truck segment.

Electrically-chargeable trucks above 3.5 tonnes expanded their share to 4.2%, up from 2.3% a year earlier.

EU bus sales fared better, up 7.5% to 38,238 registrations in 2025, with electrically-chargeable buses capturing 23.8% of the market.