Santander: Mobility must remain affordable”

Santander: Mobility must remain affordable”

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY:How satisfied are you with the first half of the year?

MICHAEL SCHWAIGER: More than satisfied. Compared to the previous year, we achieved increases of 5 percent in vehicle leasing and 8 percent in lending business. The bottom line is that we currently have sales of 840 million euros, and if this continues, we will end 2022 with 1.68 billion euros.

In the second half of the year, consumers will face steep price increases, especially in the energy sector. Will this also affect your business?

In fact, I expect the second half of the year to be weaker. Inflation, inflation, rising interest rates and a further deterioration in the delivery situation are already making themselves felt. Nevertheless, we have recently gained market share in both new car leasing and used car business, although the overall market volume is declining. 

Santander currently has several partnerships with car and motorcycle manufacturers. Do you want to expand in this area to gain further market share?

This is an important part of our strategy. We currently have captives with the car manufacturers KIA, Ford, Polestar, Volvo, Suzuki and LEVC as well as in the two-wheeler sector with Harley Davidson, KTM, Husquarna, Yamaha and Triumph. These partnerships form a stable basis, and there will be a lot more to come by the end of the year. The negotiations on this are already well advanced.

Should the number of dealer partners also be increased further?

Of course, we are happy not only about every manufacturer but also about every single dealer who wants to cooperate with us. We currently have 1,830 dealer partners throughout Austria and are fully geared towards growth in this area over the next few years.

What opportunities do you see for Santander in the digitalization of business processes?

We're totally on board with that. We are constantly expanding our offerings in terms of online leasing and online credit. For example, we will roll out our digital application, which we first offered with the Polestar brand, to all other brands. In addition, our development department is increasingly working on the subscription models that have become fashionable - there is definitely still room for improvement for us. But I don't believe in apps that nobody needs. In my opinion, a digital tool must offer real added value in order for it to be accepted.

Aren't your trading partners worried that they could lose out on the lucrative additional business of financing brokerage as a result of digitalization?

We don't want to take anything away from retailers, but rather to open up new customer groups. Apparently there are customers who don't want to go to the dealer and would rather buy a vehicle online. At Polestar, for example, this works quite well and we are happy with the result. We don't yet know what volume this will ultimately achieve in total; we will evaluate it after some time. The fact is, however, that most customers still value good, personal advice at the car dealership. In my opinion, this will never become unfashionable, why should it?

Not least due to the change in drive technology from combustion engines to electric cars, the prices for new cars have risen sharply - does this trend affect the financing business?

Individual mobility is currently in an exciting phase of change. There will probably be social shifts. Inflation will remain, the supply of cheap cars will continue to shrink, and at the same time people will have less money left over to buy cars. Financing can help close this gap, so it will play an even greater role in the future than it does today. We definitely see further growth opportunities for ourselves in this, because we are neither lacking in courage nor in ideas. After all, we have always said that we want to make mobility affordable for all Austrians.

Does your company car have an electric motor or a combustion engine?

I'll be getting my first all-electric company car soon, and all I can say is that it will have enough power to make driving a lot of fun. I admit that I'm a car idiot because I also have a gasoline engine and a hybrid in my fleet, which I still don't want to be without.