Volkswagen Group Financial Services
The Financial Services Division includes the Volkswagen Group’s dealer and customer financing, leasing, banking and insurance activities, fleet management and mobility offerings. The division comprises Volkswagen Financial Services and the financial services activities of Scania and Porsche Holding Salzburg. As of January 1, 2019, contracts signed by our international joint ventures are also included; the comparison figures have been adjusted accordingly.
The Financial Services Division’s products and services remained very popular in the 2019 fiscal year. The number of new financing, leasing, service and insurance contracts signed was higher than in the previous year at 9.3 (8.8) million worldwide. In the reporting period, the ratio of leased or financed vehicles to Group deliveries (penetration rate) in the Financial Services Division’s markets was 34.5 (34.2)%. As of December 31, 2019, the total number of contracts was 23.7 million, which is 5.7% higher than at the end of 2018. The number of contracts in the customer financing/leasing area climbed 4.7% to 11.8 million, while it increased by 6.7% to 11.9 million in the service/insurance area.
In the Europe/Other markets region, the number of new contracts signed between January and December 2019 increased by 8.0% to 6.9 million. The penetration rate was 48.5 (47.9)%. At the end of the reporting year, the total number of contracts was 17.5 million, thus exceeding the figure for 2018 by 6.1%. The customer financing/leasing area accounted for 7.7 million of these contracts (+6.1%), while 9.8 million (+6.2%) related to the service/insurance area.
In North America, the number of contracts on December 31, 2019 was 3.1 million, an increase of 0.8% compared to the previous year. The customer financing/leasing area accounted for 1.8 million contracts (−1.3%) and 1.2 million contracts (+4.0%) were owing to the service/insurance area. At 956 thousand contracts, the number of new contracts signed was 8.3% lower than the year before. The ratio of leased or financed vehicles to Group deliveries in North America was 59.3 (65.9)%.
The initial consolidation of Porsche Volkswagen Servicios Financieros Chile S.p.A. led to a marked boost in the number of contracts in South America. 386 (295) thousand new contracts were signed in the reporting year. The penetration rate increased to 38.4 (32.0)%. The total number of contracts as of December 31, 2019 increased by 19.4% year-on-year to 703 thousand. The contracts mainly related to the customer financing/leasing area.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the number of new contracts signed rose by 3.3% to 1.0 million in 2019. The ratio of leased or financed vehicles to Group deliveries was 15.5 (15.1)%. The total number of contracts at the end of the past financial year was 2.4 million. This was 5.7% more than on December 31, 2018. The customer financing/leasing area accounted for 1.7 million contracts (+3.7%), the number of contracts in the service/insurance area increased by 11.4% to 0.7 million contracts.