Michelin Group is extending its reach into telematics and fleet management with another acquisition. First it was Sascar in Brazil. Then NexTraq in the U.S. Next up: Masternaut in Europe.
Michelin has signed an agreement to acquire all shares of Masternaut, which it describes as "one of the largest European telematics providers." The company operates primarily in France and the United Kingdom, offering a technical platform and on-board telematics solutions for vehicle fleet management and monitoring.
Masternaut manages more than 220,000 mostly light utility vehicles under contract.
Michelin says the addition fo Masternaut will do three things:
- speed up the development of its services and solutions business for light vehicles and support the booming fleet market;
- enable Masternaut to roll out its offering across all of Europe by taking advantage of Michelin's geographical network;
- increase the volume of data captured, allowing it to offer customers the best solutions, improve product performance and develop its data science deployments, such as predictive maintenance.
Florent Menegaux, Michelin's managing general partner, said: “Michelin is consolidating its expertise in telematics, enabling us to optimize customer mobility and respond to the needs of a changing market. Masternaut represents a further step in the expansion of our services and solutions business, especially in Europe and for light vehicle fleets.”
