New research from Finaccord, a market research consultancy specialising in financial services, reveals how the market for automotive finance and leasing for consumers is developing across Europe. While the global financial crisis affected nearly all countries in 2008 and 2009, this market has surged ahead in Russia and Turkey in more recent years while it has continued to fall in the worst-hit EU economies. Sales of new cars in Russia have risen sharply since a slump in 2009, outpacing growth in any EU country, with the result that Russia has been the second-largest market for new cars in Europe since 2011, only trailing behind Germany. Since Russian car buyers rely on dealers for finance much more than in most EU countries, Russia is the largest market for new car finance and leasing taken out through dealerships, with an estimated EUR 20.48 billion in gross advances and new assets leased for 2012, or 26.4% of the whole European market in 2012. Turkey has seen even faster growth than Russia: new car sales boomed after 2008, and again a large majority of customers take out finance and leasing at the point of sale (i.e. through dealers). As a result, the value of gross advances and new assets leased for new cars stood at an estimated EUR 3.68 billion for 2012, or 4.8% of the whole European market – compared to 2.3% in 2008.

1. PRESS RELEASE
Automotive Finance and Leasing for Consumers in Europe
Russia's market for new car point-of-sale finance is now the largest by value in Europe
London, 11 December 2013 - New research from Finaccord, a market research consultancy
specialising in financial services, reveals how the market for automotive finance and leasing for
consumers is developing across Europe. While the global financial crisis affected nearly all countries in
2008 and 2009, this market has surged ahead in Russia and Turkey in more recent years while it has
continued to fall in the worst-hit EU economies.
Sales of new cars in Russia have risen sharply since a slump in 2009, outpacing growth in any EU
country, with the result that Russia has been the second-largest market for new cars in Europe since
2011, only trailing behind Germany. Since Russian car buyers rely on dealers for finance much more
than in most EU countries, Russia is the largest market for new car finance and leasing taken out
through dealerships, with an estimated EUR 20.48 billion in gross advances and new assets leased for
2012, or 26.4% of the whole European market in 2012.
Turkey has seen even faster growth than Russia: new car sales boomed after 2008, and again a large
majority of customers take out finance and leasing at the point of sale (i.e. through dealers). As a result,
the value of gross advances and new assets leased for new cars stood at an estimated EUR 3.68
billion for 2012, or 4.8% of the whole European market – compared to 2.3% in 2008.
However, dealers in Russia and Turkey sell far fewer used cars than France, Germany and the UK.
When used cars are added to the picture, Germany still has the largest market for automotive finance
and leasing at the point of sale – but Russia is ahead of France and the UK.
In stark contrast, sales of both new and used cars continue to fall in the EU economies that have been
worst-hit by the financial crisis, notably Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Italy, and to a lesser extent
Portugal and Spain. The most serious decline is that of the Italian market since its automotive market is
by far the largest of these countries: for new cars, gross advances and assets leased at the point of
sale are estimated at EUR 5.94 billion for 2012, less than half the figure for 2008 (EUR 12.22 billion).
“The automotive finance and leasing markets in Russia and Turkey have benefited from a combination
of three trends. First, their new car markets have surged since 2008 or 2009; secondly, their credit
markets are not especially well-developed, and dealers are the predominant source of finance in these
countries; thirdly, dealers sell more new cars than used ones, so the average value of a loan is
relatively high", comments David Parry, Managing Consultant at Finaccord. "In contrast, the market in
countries like Greece is held back by a shortage of capital as well as by weak demand: lenders are
turning down customers who don't have a very good credit record."
The importance of the Russian market can be seen in the composition of the top 15 finance providers
of automotive finance and leasing at the point of sale. Finaccord's research established which finance
providers were used by dealers and which finance providers worked with manufacturer brands across
25 countries, and then weighted the results by the value of point-of-sale finance and leasing in each
country. While the captive or joint venture finance providers of Europe's leading manufacturer groups
held nine of these top 15 places, six were held by independent companies, and only one of these did
not have significant activities for automotive finance in Russia. This was Santander Consumer Finance,
which held third place on this analysis across Europe thanks to its partnerships with both dealers and
manufacturer brands in 12 countries.

2. “Santander Consumer Finance aside, all the major independent providers of automotive finance and
leasing have significant activity in this sector in Russia. Société Générale owns Rusfinance Bank and
Rosbank, UniCredit backs RN Finance on behalf of Renault and Nissan, Sberbank acts in its own
name and as the majority shareholder in Cetelem in Russia along with BNP Paribas, and Raiffeisen
Bankengruppe's automotive business in Russia is much larger than in its home market of Austria.
Sberbank's acquisition of DenizBank in Turkey in 2012 from Belgium's Dexia was the epitome of this
shifting balance away from the EU to Russia and Turkey" concludes David Parry.
--- END --Media contact: Roberto Napolitano, +44 (0)20 3008 4406, rnapolitano@finaccord.com
Notes to editors:
Finaccord is a market research, publishing and consulting company specialising in financial services. It
provides its clients with insight into and information about major issues in financial services in the UK,
Europe and major global markets, with a particular focus on marketing and distribution topics such as affinity
marketing, bancassurance and strategic alliances.
Automotive Finance and Leasing for Consumers in Europe delivers comprehensive and in-depth research
covering the market for private car finance in 25 countries in Europe, namely: Austria, Belgium, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway,
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK
and Ukraine. Based on a survey of 1,350 dealers in these countries and an investigation typically covering
between 30 and 40 automotive brands in each territory, the study delivers unique insights into the market for
finance and leasing for new and used passenger cars bought by consumers, with fully comparable and
standardised data describing market values and volumes, including a segmentation for each country
between point-of-sale finance through dealers and finance provided directly to consumers by lenders.
Sample graphic from the report, showing the share of partnerships held by finance providers with both
manufacturer brands and dealerships, weighted by dealers' use of tied partners and non-tied providers, and
by the relative value of point-of-sale finance and leasing in each country. While this chart does not represent
the exact market share of consumer automotive finance and leasing, it does show the potential share of new
business available to each company on the basis of its partnerships.
others, 22.4%
Raiffeisen
Bankengruppe,
1.4%
BNP Paribas,
2.2%
Sberbank, 2.3%
UniCredit, 2.5%
Toyota FS, 3.6%
GMAC, 3.8%
Daimler FS,
4.2%
FCE Bank, 4.2%
Volkswagen FS,
17.9%
Banque PSA
Finance, 7.2%
Santander
Consumer
Finance, 7.2%
RCI Banque,
7.1%
BMW FS, 4.9%
FGA Capital,
Société
4.4%
Générale, 4.7%