Gothenburg, Sweden: The number of fleet management systems in European use is forecast to grow from two million units this year to five million by 2015, according to a new report, Fleet management in Europe – 6th Edition, published by Berg Insight.
Fleet penetration of telematic systems is expected to increase from 6.9% in 2010 to 17.6% by 2015, the report says.
Berg Insight’s definition of a fleet management solution is a vehicle-based system that incorporates data logging, satellite positioning and data communication to a back-office application.
Berg Insight says that the European fleet management market has entered a growth period that will last for several years although individual markets may suffer temporary setbacks depending on the local economic developments.
A group of international aftermarket solution providers have emerged as the leaders on the European fleet management market. Masternaut is ranked as the largest player overall in terms of installed base with close to 200,000 units deployed, mainly in France and the UK. TomTom Business Solutions was the fastest growing vendor also in 2010 and has now surpassed 143,000 subscribers.
Transics is number one in the heavy trucks segment with an estimated 65,000 active units installed. Other significant players include European companies such as Vehco, Navman Wireless and Trafficmaster and international players like Trimble and Qualcomm from the US and the South African telematics providers Digicore and MiX Telematics.
All major truck manufacturers on the European market offer OEM telematics solutions as a part of their product portfolio. Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Scania launched their first products in the 1990s and followed by MAN in 2000, Renault Trucks in 2004, DAF Trucks in 2006 and IVECO in 2008. The products are all supporting the FMS standard and can generally be deployed in mixed fleets even if some functionality can be brand-specific.
A major trend in the past three years is development of solutions for remote downloading digital tachograph data and more advanced data measurement encourage more fuel-efficient driving techniques.
