Mercedes 2012 Annual Report Download - page 151

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4 | The Divisions | Daimler Financial Services
Growth of business with fleet customers. Daimler Financial
Services once again helped small and medium-sized commercial
customers as well as major international companies in many
countries to finance and manage their fleets of vehicles. We were
able to grow in this sector as well, with new business increas-
ing by 6% to 126,000 units. We managed a total of 328,000
vehicles for commercial customers by the end of 2012, represent-
ing an increase of 6% compared with a year earlier. With approx-
imately 700 customers from all industries, the Daimler Financial
Services subsidiary Daimler Fleet Management is one of
the biggest providers of fleet management services in Germany.
Numerous awards for customer and dealer satisfaction.
Daimler Financial Services was once again honored many times
in 2012 for the outstanding quality of its services. For the
fourth consecutive year, Germany’s “Autohaus” magazine named
Mercedes-Benz Bank the best premium-segment provider
of automotive financial services. Daimler Financial Services
ranked first in several categories of the J.D. Power and Associates
study of dealer satisfaction in the United States and Canada.
The division’s Australian subsidiary finished first in a local dealer
satisfaction study for the third time in succession.
A highly attractive employer. Daimler Financial Services
is highly regarded as an employer. This fact was confirmed
in 2012 by external institutes. For example, the highly respected
Great Place to Work Institute reported that Daimler Financial
Services’ US subsidiary is among the country’s 25 most attractive
employers in its segment. Daimler Financial Services in
China was also singled out for praise by the Great Place to Work
Institute.
Further expansion of business with innovative mobility
services. Daimler Financial Services is increasingly supplement-
ing its automotive financial services operations with activities
in the rapidly growing market for mobility services. The division’s
innovative car2go car-sharing concept is now up and running
in 18 cities in Europe and North America. As a result, the number
of car2go locations more than doubled during the year under
review. car2go was launched in Stuttgart at the end of November
with a fleet of 300 fully electric vehicles. At the end of 2012,
car2go had some 270,000 customers worldwide (2011: 60,000).
Starting at the beginning of 2013, Daimler Financial Services
also concentrated all activities related to innovative mobility
services in the subsidiary Daimler Mobility Services GmbH and
assumed responsibility for the “moovel” mobility platform,
which enables customers to compare various mobility options
on their smartphones.
Expansion of Toll Collect system. This system, which is
used to collect truck tolls on German autobahns, continued
to run smoothly and reliably during the year under review.
On August 1, 2012, the system was extended to cover approx-
imately 1,100 kilometers of four-lane non-autobahn highways
in Germany. A total of 741,900 onboard systems for automatic
toll collection were in use at the end of 2012. Tolls were
collected for a total distance of 26.6 billion kilometers during
the year under review. Daimler Financial Services holds
a 45% equity interest in the Toll Collect consortium.
Daimler Financial Services offers tailored financial services packages also for younger people.