Pictured: Steven Hudson, CEO, Element Financial Corp

By Mike Sheldrick

Element Financial Corp. has vaulted to the largest North American fleet leasing company by buying GE Capital’s fleet leasing assets in the U.S. and Mexico, and in Australia and New Zealand for a total of $6.9 billion. The deal comprises about 580,000 vehicles, doubling Element’s North American presence.

In Europe, GE plans to sell its fleet of 160,000 leased vehicles to Arval, a unit of PNB Paribas. Arval and Element already partner in North America. On closing of the transactions, the Element-Arval Global Alliance will be serving customer fleets in more than 40 countries— more than 2 million vehicles.

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When we interviewed Jeff Schlesinger, Managing Director – Global for GE Fleet Services, we wanted to hear his thoughts on the current state of the global fleet market.

“The ability to save money on a global basis has become a very strong key performance indicator over the last two to three years,” Schlesinger says. He adds, “The use of analytics has become almost a ticket to play. If you can’t analyze the data, the companies are sitting there saying: what good are you?”

READ MORE to learn what Schlesinger has to say about managing a global fleet.

PARS, a leader in fleet vehicle transport and logistics, launched its new online customer portal today. The secure gateway features more real-time data, fleet management tools, and reports that address the increased complexity of fleet vehicle transport projects.

“We have invested in the latest web development technology to simplify navigation, enhance project management, and make doing business with PARS easier than ever,” notes Lori Rasmussen, president of PARS. “Today’s fleet manager needs the ability to combine vehicle transport with any number of adjunct services, such as storage, license and titling, body repair or maintenance. Our new system integrates Big Data collection, expands reports and offers greater management control.”

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IT’S not fun getting into a car when the interior is 130 degrees, but that’s a typical problem during the summer for those who live in a city like Phoenix, where outside temperatures can regularly soar well past 100.

But Sean O’Gorman 32, a software product manager, never needs to endure a furnacelike cabin. As an owner of a Tesla Model S, he opens an smartphone app a few minutes before he gets into the car and remotely starts his air-conditioner.

The app can do things that previously only a physical key could do, and more: Start the engine, unlock the doors, turn on the heat and monitor the battery.

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Last month Ford sent letters to 14,000 of its American drivers with an unusual suggestion: For extra cash, they could rent their cars to fellow urbanites wanting a cheap ride.

America’s second-biggest auto giant wouldn’t directly sell any additional cars or trucks under the arrangement; it wouldn’t even take a cut. But it would put Ford closer to the front of a movement in which cars are shared, ignored or Uber-ed — not bought.

The peer-to-peer rental experiment — which has the Bay Area in a prominent role — is only the latest weird move for America’s auto powerhouse, maker of the F-150 and Model T. Last month, Ford launched a pay-as-you-go network of shareable, on-demand cars in London, called GoDrive.

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Unless you’re one of those Americans who works from home or has somehow found a job down the block, odds are you’re spending about 45 minutes a day getting to the office – a commute that costs you about $10 in gas, tolls and parking or for a ticket on mass transit.

Commissioned by financial giant Citi, the new study of commuting finds that Los Angelinos pay the most to get to work, a daily $16, while New Yorkers spend the most time commuting, an average 73 minutes a day.

Not everyone is unhappy about the time they spend getting to work, however. The study reveals that for two-thirds of American workers, their commute is seen as the only time they get to themselves, though others see the trip as a way to talk with friends.

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Ford is introducing new vehicle camera technology that can help see around corners even when drivers cannot, aiding in reducing driver stress and potentially averting accidents.

The new available split-view camera feature helps drivers see traffic and obstacles that enter the vehicle’s path from the side by displaying a 180-degree view of the area in front of or behind a vehicle. It is the latest example of how Ford is using camera technology to help make driving easier.

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The gearheads in Detroit, Tokyo and Stuttgart have mostly figured out how to build driverless vehicles. Even the Google guys seem to have solved the riddle. Now comes the hard part: deciding whether these machines should have power over who lives or dies in an accident.

The industry is promising a glittering future of autonomous vehicles moving in harmony like schools of fish. That can’t happen, however, until carmakers answer the kinds of thorny philosophical questions explored in science fiction since Isaac Asimov wrote his robot series last century.

For example, should an autonomous vehicle sacrifice its occupant by swerving off a cliff to avoid killing a school bus full of children?

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Global consolidation is a reality that many companies frequently face in today’s internationally focused society. But what does this mean for fleet managers? For many, it means a rapidly expanded fleet that is much more complex and time-consuming to manage than a local fleet.

In part one of this Q&A series, Esther Calvo Bolaño, vice president international sales for LeasePlan International, explains why it’s important to understand global fleets and how to manage one.

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Using HP’s Big Data Discovery Experience Services and the HP Haven big data platform, the engineering team gathered data and analyzed it to determine possibilities for lowering operating costs and optimizing underutilized vehicles for fleets as well as personal driving.

Among the observations of the experiment: Regardless of location, most HP drivers grabbed coffee at the same national coffeehouse and refueled with the same brand of gasoline, while traveling employees often left vehicles unused at the airport for days.

While it’s no surprise road-tripping employees stop for coffee, data analysis about commutes and driving routines could lead to greater economies of scale for company fleets and new solutions for optimizing underutilized vehicles.

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