Mercedes 2015 Annual Report Download - page 171

178 C | THE DIVISIONS | DAIMLER FINANCIAL SERVICES
Continued expansion in North America
Daimler Financial Services was able to record an increase
over the high level of new business of the previous year also in
the Americas region, where the company brokered 456,365
new financing and leasing contracts worth €22.0 billion in 2015
(+21%). The decrease in new business in Brazil that resulted
from the difficult economic situation in the country was offset
by significant gains in the United States (+28%) and Mexico
(+31%), leading to an overall increase in contract volume in the
Americas of 18% to €50.8 billion.
Increase in new business in Africa & Asia-Pacific region
New business in the Africa & Asia-Pacific region increased over
the previous year by 39% to €11.3 billion. Business develop-
ment was especially strong in India (+91%), China (+66%) and
South Korea (+53%). With a contract volume of €6.9 billion,
China became the fourth-largest market for Daimler Financial
Services in the year under review. At the end of 2015, contract
volume in the Africa & Asia-Pacific region totaled €20.2 billion,
which corresponds to a 32% increase over the previous year.
Growth in the insurance business
During the year under review, Daimler Financial Services
brokered 1.8 million insurance policies – an increase of 25%
compared with the prior year. Our insurance business
continued to be particularly successful in China, where an
average of 75% of Daimler vehicles were delivered with
an insurance policy brokered by us.
Mobility services expanded further
Daimler Financial Services offers a broad range of innovative
mobility solutions. During the year under review, the division
also further expanded its services in this area. The number
of customers using the car2go car-sharing system increased
to 1.2 million in 2015, thereby enabling car2go to maintain
its position as the world’s leading car-sharing company. car2go
was also launched in Turin and Madrid in 2015; at the end
of the year, the Group-owned company was operating at 31
locations. We also further developed our moovel app in 2015,
which allows customers in Germany to compare various mobility
and transport-mode options and then choose the best way
to get from point A to point B. The app can also be used to book
and directly pay for services provided by companies such
as car2go, Flinkster, mytaxi and the Deutsche Bahn railway
company. In the fourth quarter of 2015, moovel in Stuttgart
became the first provider to allow users to book and pay for
online tickets for journeys by a public transport operator.
RideScout in North America, which is also a Daimler company,
acquired the US startup GlobeSherpa at the end of the
second quarter of 2015. GlobeSherpa is an upcoming US
provider in the field of mobile ticketing and is currently present
in San Francisco, Portland, Chicago and several other cities.
The mytaxi app allows customers to locate, book and pay for
a taxi using their smartphones. The app’s great popularity
led to its launch in Milan, Seville, Valencia, Krakow and Lisbon
during the year under review. mytaxi was thus in use in 40
cities at the end of 2015. Daimler also has an equity interest
in MeinFernbus FlixBus GmbH and in the Blacklane profes-
sional driver service.
Daimler Financial Services satisfies its customers’ requirements with excellent service and tailored financing, leasing and insurance offers.