Arval Belgium and the Ministry of Defence sign strategic partnership agreement

The Ministry of Defence leases 1,000 service vehicles from leasing company Arval Belgium, a market leader in Belgium and Europe. The Ministry of Defence is renewing its general-purpose commercial vehicle fleet.

A brief overview:

• The Ministry of Defence has concluded an operational lease agreement with Arval Belgium for 1,000 commercial service vehicles.
• Operational leasing makes it possible to optimise costs, and outsource the management and risks. The Ministry of Defence can consequently fully concentrate on its core activities.
• All vehicles are being equipped with the ‘Arval Car Sharing’ mobility solution as well as the ‘Arval Active Link’ telematics solution.
• Arval Car Sharing allows employees to reserve vehicles via an intuitive online system, without key transfer.
• Arval Active Link facilitates the monitoring of fuel consumption, mileage, driving behaviour and travel times, etc.

Arval Belgium will deliver the 1,000 lease vehicles in a record-breaking 6 months! This therefore constitutes a large-scale project with unprecedented technical and operational challenges.

All these vehicles fall under an operational lease contract. In line with its strategic vision, the Ministry of Defence is keen to reduce the administrative workload and personnel required for the management of its fleet. This end-to-end solution relieves the Ministry of Defence from the associated management and risks. The entire process (maintenance, repairs, fuel management, replacement vehicles, etc.) is being managed by Arval Belgium. The costs have been optimised and fixed, consequently allowing the Ministry of Defence organisation to focus on its core activities.

The Ministry of Defence intends to increasingly modernise and digitise its operations. To do so, the entire new fleet is being equipped with the ‘Arval Car Sharing’ mobility solution and the ‘Arval Active Link’ telematics solution. By investing in these innovative technologies, the Ministry of Defence is enhancing the accessibility and efficiency of its fleet, whilst simultaneously reducing the number of vehicles required. All service vehicles are shared and the users are additionally assisted in adopting safer and more environmentally friendly driving practices.

Arval Car Sharing gives the familiar pool car a new dimension. Reserving a car has been significantly simplified via an intelligent and innovative online platform. And it officially makes the transfer of keys a thing of the past. The vehicle can be used by means of the updated military identity card, representing a truly customised solution! Arval Car Sharing is an excellent example of flexible, innovative and sustainable mobility.

The new Arval Active Link telematics package makes fleet management even more efficient. The processing of vehicle data is automated and real time, thus providing full compliance with the applicable data protection rules. Welcome to the age of connected cars!

With the help of a single, modular online interface and a handy online dashboard, mileage, travel times, vehicle usage, driving style and numerous other parameters can all be monitored via Arval Active Link. All this happens automatically, eliminating the need for manual coding and preventing unnecessary loss of time.

Like Arval Belgium, the Ministry of Defence also pays particular attention to road safety and the environment. Amongst other things, Arval Active Link will enable the Ministry of Defence to positively influence user driving behaviour and optimise fuel consumption. The Ministry of Defence organisation can consequently make an active contribution to road safety and environmental protection.

This partnership reflects both the quality and innovation of Arval Belgium's products and services, as well as its ability to satisfy the specific requirements of its customers in terms of mobility and technology. None of this would have been possible without a long-standing, trusted relationship between the Ministry of Defence, Groupe PSA, and the Arval (BNP Paribas Group) and Arval Belgium teams.

"An increasingly optimised and more extensive use of all this data enables Arval Belgium and its partners to stay one step ahead and offer their customers and prospective clients the finest advice, services and innovations on the market; including in the field of green and alternative mobility", explains Arval Belgium general manager, Alain Yvon.

Their integrated offering, the strengths of their service provision and their focus on data and digital solutions will enable Arval Belgium to meet the challenges of mobility and road safety for the Ministry of Defence and all its other customers.

"We’re delighted that Arval Belgium has been able to assist in this ambitious project. With 950 Citroën and 50 Opel vehicles, we’re delivering a comprehensive range that satisfies the Ministry of Defence’s day-to-day requirements. Our products, the extraordinary collaboration of all the teams involved and the flexibility of our plants have enabled us to realise this large-scale project", emphasises PSA Belux Group CEO, Stéphane Levi.

The selected fleet comprises 500 Citroën Berlingo, 250 Citroën Jumpy 8+1, 200 Citroën Jumpy VU and 50 Opel Movano vehicles. Deliveries commenced on 21 June and 393 vehicles have since been handed over. Deliveries will resume from 20/09/2019 until 14/11/2019, the planned end date.

Arval Belgium is fully committed to supporting the Ministry of Defence in its digitalisation process by supplying them with innovative and customised mobility solutions. These solutions will result in major improvements in performance, data availability, and efficiency optimisations, and simultaneously deliver considerable time savings. We are all incredibly proud of this partnership, which still has a long and successful future ahead of it!