Mobilize missed its own target market

As French media reports, Mobilize’s first vehicle offered exclusively to taxis and VTCs has just been withdrawn from the market. Since its launch in 2022, only 33 vehicles have been sold, L’Argus reports, citing data from NGC-Data.

Renault has since confirmed defeat. “Despite the good feedback on the vehicle, taxi and VTC professionals were not ready to accept the proposed offer across the board. As the saloon is aimed at this market, the volumes are too low to ensure a sustainable economic model,” reads a company statement.

L’Argus considers the issue in a too-expensive rental model. When Mobilize launched the Limo at the IAA 2021, it promised to “provide all-inclusive mobility solutions packages”, namely services such as maintenance and insurance and access to a charging network. While sounding good, it brought lease payments to €1,499/month for 36 months. L’Argus cites a VTC driver complaining it was “impossible for me to pay off a leased vehicle at such a high monthly rate. You have to work more than twelve hours a day to get a return on your investment,” he said.

Looking at the numbers, it appears that another deal also fell through. In May 2022, Spanish ride-hailing company Cabify announced plans to deploy 40 Mobilize sedans in Madrid. It is unclear whether or to what extent the project was realised. Instead, the company announced today,it was procuring 196 new electric cars for subsidiary Vecttor in Madrid. The new fleet comprises a mix of Tesla Model 3, Kia eNiro, Citroën ë-C4x and Hyundai Ioniq 5 models.

In any case, Mobilize now wants to concentrate on marketing the Twizy successor Duo, which debuted in autumn 2022 and its cargo offshoot Bento. We’d expect the much smaller vehicles, quads, in fact, will be available at much lower rental prices.

largus.fr (Mobilize), traveldailynews.com (Cabify Madrid)