ALD Automotive pushes into Central Europe

ALD Automotive, the Société Générale vehicle leasing subsidiary whose British operations are based in Bristol, has acquired the Hungarian and Polish lessors EcoFleet and MultifFleet. The acquisitions add to ALD's purchase of Hertz Lease from Ford Motor Co. in March of this year, and mark the firm's expansion into Central European markets.

The privately-owned Hungarian MultiFleet has a fleet of 1,200 vehicles, while the Polish EcoFleet had 600 at the time of acquisition. Together with the launch of an Austrian subsidiary this year, these latest acquisitions by ALD Automotive bring its Europe-wide fleet to 503,000 vehicles. Staff now number some 3,000.

ALD has also created a partnership with ARI in the US and ORIX Leasing in Asia-Pacific under the banner 'Global Fleet Services' – which manages a combined fleet of 1.2 million vehicles.