Press release

raunschweig, 25 February 2019. Volkswagen Financial Services are further expanding their strategic business field of parking services. To this end Volkswagen Financial Services AG acquires 75.1 percent of the shares in the company PTV Truckparking B.V. from the Karlsruhe-based PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG. The company is headquartered in Utrecht/Netherlands and operates the web platform (including smartphone app) Truck Parking Europe for truck drivers, which makes it easier to find and book truck parking spots on motorways. With more than a million downloads, Truck Parking Europe is the most successful trucker community-based platform/app in its field. "Smart Parking is one of our important new business segments. Up to now, however, our focus has only been on the passenger car segment in city centres. That will now change," says Gerhard Künne, Head of the Mobility Unit at Volkswagen Financial Services. He continues: "By integrating the services of PTV Truckparking B.V. in our business, we are providing considerable value added to haulage contractors and drivers and we can further optimise the search for and reservation of parking spaces."

Vincent Kobesen, CEO of PTV Group, adds: "The transaction is a milestone in the young history of Truck Parking Europe. The strategy of expanding as a brand-independent platform for truck parking will be continued. We are confident that our activities in the Smart Parking environment will benefit enormously from the network of Volkswagen Financial Services".

PTV Truckparking B.V. enables access to a network of 34,000 parking locations and 400,000 parking spaces along the transit motorways throughout Europe. The app (which is available for iOS and Android) allows truck drivers to plan their route and find suitable parking spots while taking into account their permitted driving time. Specific search filters (e.g. as regards showers, WC facilities, opening hours, safe/unsecured parking spaces) allow users to make an initial selection and view a display of traffic information along the route at the same time. Selected parking spaces can even be reserved in advance. The active community offers a particular benefit. The truck stops and parking spots can be appraised by all active users and a lively exchange takes place within the trucker community as to where parking opportunities are still available. The Truck Parking Europe app is also interesting for planners and dispatchers because they can pre-book parking spaces for their drivers. This cuts the time, and therefore the costs, involved in finding suitable places for stopovers.

"Through the acquisition of PTV Truckparking B.V., we intend to consolidate our market position, leverage synergies between the business segments and further enhance our existing offers, such as the MAN Card Mobility App, with high-quality point-of-interest data," Künne explains.

Following the acquisition of the two companies sunhill technologies (2015) and PayByPhone (2016), Volkswagen Financial Services have already been one of the leading providers in the field of smart parking (digital processing of parking procedures) for several years. Services for the trucking industry have also been significantly expanded by Volkswagen Financial Services in the recent past – particularly in the processing of refuelling and toll payments, but also in the classic financing and leasing business. 

Information for editors:

Volkswagen Financial Services are a business division of the Volkswagen AG group of companies and comprise Volkswagen Financial Services AG along with its associated companies, Volkswagen Bank GmbH, Porsche Financial Services, and the financial services companies in the USA, Canada, and Spain that belong directly or indirectly to Volkswagen AG – with the exception of the financial services of the Scania brand and Porsche Holding Salzburg. The key business fields embrace dealer and customer financing, leasing, the bank and insurance business, fleet management and mobility offers. Volkswagen Financial Services have a total of 15,770 employees worldwide – including 6,670 alone in Germany. Volkswagen Financial Services report total assets of around EUR 186.9 billion, an operating result of EUR 2.5 billion euros and a portfolio of around 19.7 million current contracts (as at: 31.12.2017).

The PTV Group considers transport and logistics as a whole in order to make mobility fit for the future. Award-winning as world market leader, the company develops intelligent software solutions for transport logistics, traffic planning and traffic management. More than 2,500 cities use PTV products. Transports in over one million vehicles are planned with PTV software. The European transport model, which covers all passenger and freight transport in Europe, is developed with PTV software. The PTV Group (founded in 1979) based in Karlsruhe employs over 800 people worldwide.