Daimler and BMW’s carsharing to be based in Berlin
After BMW and Daimler announced their intention to bundle their car-sharing capacities from DriveNow and Car2Go, the fusion is starting to take a more definite shape. The manufacturers announced that their planned joint venture will be based in Berlin.
Furthermore, the two companies have officially applied for permission to found a joint venture with the EU. The joint venture will combine the current offers for on-demand mobility from car-sharing (Car2Go, DriveNow), ride-hailing (Mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi, Beat), EV charging (ChargeNow, Digital Charging Solutions) and multi-modality (Moovel, ReachNow), as well as further expanding them.
The two southern Germany-based partners made a poignant choice to expand to the nations capital further north: the mobility service is planned to develop entirely outside of their traditional company structures. Daimler’s chairman of the board Dieter Zetsche explained it as follows: “Our vision is to create a major global player for seamless and intelligent connected mobility services together. As a hub for creativity and innovation, Berlin is exactly the right location for our plans.”
Between Car2Go and DriveNow, a total of 20,000 vehicles in 31 international major cities are on the roads. More than four million customers are currently using their e-mobility services. The ride-hailing services are also already well-developed, as mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi (All based in Europe) and Beat (South America) are currently serving almost 16 million customers with more than 170,000 drivers. The two companies plan to significantly increase the number of EVs in these fleets.
Finally, the companies seek to address issues in the economic sustainability of car-sharing services. Particularly the free-floating car sharing concept presents issues. As a result, Car2Go was even forced to shrink their service area last October in Stuttgart. Compared to international competitors such as Uber or Didi from the USA and China, respectively, the new size puts them on a more serious course. The coordination by the two automobile manufacturers can only help here.
0 Comments