The benefit for Ford, according to Burrell, is “drivers are more likely to go to one of our dealers”.

Maintenance information from manufacturers isn’t necessarily a new development – General Motors’s OnStar has been available for years in the US, Canada and China and offers vehicle diagnostics.

However, systems are likely to become more sophisticated in the future.

Speaking at the 2012 Telematics Update conference, Ralf Lamberti, director of telematics at Mercedes-Benz, said “remote convenience” was part of the manufacturer’s product plans.

“The customer will be able to interact with their car from any device,” he says.

“Partly it’s already in place. For the new electric vehicles you can interact with your battery, you can set the time when you want the vehicle to be charged, you can see the state of charge and you can calculate the range.

“We will build on that framework in the future for all vehicles and give remote convenience to all our cars.”

Lamberti envisages Mercedes-Benz being able to place content from its dealership and finance department on the car. But there are issues for manufacturers, particularly around data sharing, with driver consent likely to be needed.

There also potential security issues. Large companies may well have security overrides on company mobile phones so their smartphones are disabled for data and tracking with only emails, SMS and phone calls functions available.

However, perhaps the biggest challenge the industry faces is standardisation.

“Different car manufacturers adopt different systems, but businesses tend to have mixed fleets,” says Andy Kirk, sales and marketing director at Quartix. “No company wants to operate several telematics solutions.”

According to Burrell, most OEMs are discussing standardisation but there isn’t yet “a definitive plan”.

It’s an issue which insurance companies that have entered the telematics market have been grappling with.

If a fleet changes insurer it’s not always possible to transfer the telematics device.

If insurance companies can overcome this issue they could have a big influence on the uptake of driver behaviour style telematics in the fleet market.

Leasing companies’ role in the uptake of telematics should not be dismissed.

Some may not wait for the SMR benefits that factory-fit devices can offer and will take the initiative in the meantime.

Telematics providers recognise the opportunity.

In-Car Cleverness, a white label telematics product aimed primarily at the contract hire and leasing sector, launched last year. Quartix is bringing out a new product this month aimed specifically at leasing companies.