Daimler Truck’s vision is to be a leader in sustainable transport. Daimler Truck Financial Services provides financial services for bus and touring coach companies for this purpose. Leasing plays an increasingly important role here. Which special advantages do you see for bus and touring coach companies when using leasing?

One major advantage is, on the one hand, that the leasing rates are recorded as service expenses and costs in the profit and loss statement, thereby naturally alleviating the cash situation to some extent. Another, in my view, significant advantage is that as an entrepreneur, I can to some extent remove risks from my business, essentially outsourcing them. It makes a huge difference whether, as a customer, I only consider the risk within my fleet or use a provider that can scale to a much larger fleet. So, with leasing, you can spread the risks associated with every technological advancement to some extent.

What exactly does outsourcing technological risks mean?

The central question is as follows: what is my core business and in which areas am I prepared to take business risks as a bus or touring coach company? If my core business is touring coach trips, for example, I have already included risks in my business model owing to seasonal fluctuations. Then you might have to ask yourself the question, do I also want to manage the risks associated with new technologies and infrastructure solutions? And how much volatility do I want to risk as a company?

Is there already a concrete example of such a leasing model for travel operators?

We are currently working intensively in the touring coach travel industry. We already introduced BusStore Flexible Leasing during the pandemic, a flexible leasing offer provided by BusStore for nearly new used coaches. Customers in Germany have the option to simply return the vehicle after nine months at no additional cost. With such solutions, I see a real opportunity to inject more flexibility into leasing offers.

What other products are planned at Daimler Truck Financial Services?

What is currently driving me to a maximum extent is a truly sustainable business model – in the sense of being both environmentally and climate-friendly. This has to do with the vehicle emissions but also managing vehicles throughout their entire life cycle. Let me provide some context: at the moment, the focus is very much on the initial utility cycle of the vehicle. However, as a bus and touring coach manufacturer, it is our obligation to develop sustainable usage concepts that extend across the entire life cycle and this also requires new service offers.

What could such service models look like that take into account the entire service life of a bus or touring coach?

As Daimler Truck it is our responsibility to make the most of all raw materials that are in a bus/touring coach throughout the entire cycle so that nothing goes to waste. This applies to materials, energy as well as labour. Specifically, this means: how do we make the vehicle usable for our customers in the best possible way? For example, we try to look at the vehicles over a longer period of time. For instance, conceivable are service contracts that, much like health insurance, accompany the bus or touring coach throughout its life cycle, not just during the initial five years. In the future, we will certainly also talk more about solutions for a second life for batteries. Our aim is therefore to think comprehensively about financing with regard to our customers’ business. By the way, this also includes new insurance offers.

When it comes to insurance, you don't even think that it’s part of the financing. How does this benefit your customers?

Our customers have an interest in putting their business on a firm, efficient footing. This also includes, for example, thoroughly analysing the insurance premiums for the vehicle fleets. We work in a partnership with Marsh to provide our customers with access to professional insurance advice. As the world’s leading insurance brokers and risk consultants, Marsh analyses our customers’ insurance policies and identifies potential for optimisation. We call it "Insurance Optimisation as a Service".

Marsh is a large, global company. Does a bus/touring coach operator have to be of a certain size in order to be able to use the consulting service as a customer of Daimler Truck?

We have different concepts depending on the size of the customer involved. Marsh doesn't solely focus on large corporations but deliberately offers its services to medium-sized businesses, in line with the goal of supporting medium-sized enterprises. Sustainability is also a key consideration in this context. Marsh has not only set itself ambitious sustainability goals, but also advises companies on the transformation to net zero emissions. This includes not only groups of companies, but also many medium-sized enterprises. As part of the cooperation with Marsh, we have therefore developed a consulting service concept to ensure that small and medium-sized bus/touring coach operators also benefit from this.

A general question at the end: Where is development headed for financing products?

In general, we are seeing a strong trend towards more value-added products in the capital goods segment. From the customer’s point of view, we also speak of de-risking products. With electric buses – and certainly later with hydrogen vehicles as well – there is a tendency for customers to say that they want their vehicle fleet to always be technologically up to date. This sometimes goes so far that a comprehensive solution is preferred, which also includes the charging infrastructure or the energy supply. These transport companies want to focus on their core business - transporting passengers. At Daimler Buses we make this possible.