ALD and Lombard have confirmed they will launch Lombard Vehicle Solutions (LVS), a vehicle contract hire and fleet management service that will offer a wide range of leasing options, from a single vehicle to large corporate fleets in July.

The move follows an announcement that ALD Automotive would enter into a five-year agreement with Lombard, the dedicated asset finance provider of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), to provide contract hire and fleet management solutions for customers.

This followed an earlier decision of RBS to wind down their Lombard Vehicle Management (LVM) business.

ALD’s current fleet size is 73,000 and 30,000 new vehicle contracts are anticipated through LVS over the next five years.

Alexander Baldock, managing director of Lombard, said: “Having explored a number of options for providing the best possible contract hire and fleet management solutions for our customers, we have partnered with ALD Automotive to present this exciting new proposition.

“This is an attractive solution for Lombard and RBS Group customers and we are confident that the launch will be a success.”

Managing director of ALD Automotive Keith Allen said: “We have been working very closely with RBS and Lombard over the past four months and the implementation plan has run smoothly.

“All parties have been totally committed to making the product launch a success and we now have the systems, people and marketing in place for ‘go live’ on 2nd July.

“The feedback about the new Lombard Vehicle Solutions proposition from the existing LVM customers who we have met has been very positive and it is clear that there is a huge opportunity ahead to grow this new business sales channel over the next five years.”