Stellantis, the holding company for Fiat, Peugeot and Citroën, said clients are seeking longer-term contracts for leasing and financing its cars.
The Dutch company revealed that a large proportion of loans had shifted from three-year deals to four.
The Fiat producer added it had finished its plans to streamline the financing and leasing aspect of its business, a plan laid out towards the end of 2021.
The company has now set up multiple leasing businesses across Europe working with lenders such as Santander Consumer Finance and BNP Paribas Personal Finance.
“These banks have always had better funding conditions than we can have as an automaker,” said Philippe de Rovira, chief affiliates officer at Stellantis.
The car manufacturer should be able to cut around 30% of its spending on IT due to the newly created ventures.
De Rovira stated that orders for its cars were “still at record levels” despite recent falls in car prices across Europe.
The target for the reshuffled financing and leasing division is to double its net income to €5.8bln by 2030.
Car financing in the UK
The number of people leasing or financing a vehicle in January dropped by 3% year-on-year, whilst the value of the business dropped by 5% according to figures from the Finance and Leasing Association.
In fact, the only area that increased in January was the volume of used cars being financed – with it increasing by 4% annually.
One stock that may be well positioned for this trend is consumer lending company, S & U.
The company, which share price is up 18% in 2023, focuses on helping finance the non-prime used car market.
Watch here to see Chairman Anthony Coombs speak with Proactive about S & U’s recent results.