Already present in 22 countries worldwide, Russian Navigation Technologies (RNT), a leading manufacturer and integrator of fleet management solutions and other telematics systems operating under the Auto Tracker brand, announced it is now opening up South America’s fleet management market.
Announcing last week a new JV in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the firm has not only set up shop in the world’s sixth largest economy – which was also the fifth largest car market in 2011 – but also plans to sell transport telematics services all across the South American continent.
JV Gisline Rastreamento Ltda, a company 51% owned by the Russian company, will reportedly promote RNT’s MoveTracker, a brand name developed specifically for South America. Offering its proprietary cloud-based and other solutions, the company has announced that for its pilot 250-vehicle project it will outsource some tasks to local contractors and then develop a partnership network there.
The Brazilian government has mandated that starting this year, all new vehicles sold domestically be equipped with navigators, sparking what RNT expects to be fierce competition in this potentially lucrative market. RNT seeks some 25% of Brazil’s fleet management segment by 2017 – this in a market that showed a robust 25% growth in 2010 and a tiny 2% penetration by quality transport monitoring services.
RNT is not the first Russian telematics system provider to seek a toehold in far-off markets. In 2010 and 2011, Russia’s Navigation Information Systems (NIS) shook hands with a number of Brazilian and Indian companies and government regulators on joint efforts to push GLONASS/GPS technology in Latin America and South Asia. With its main chipset asset, M2M Telematics, NIS is reportedly looking into its own hardware production prospects in Brazil and India.
