Stellantis takes over carsharing from BMW and Mercedes

Created: 05/03/2022, 08:44

Stellantis wants to drive growth, especially in German cities.

© Carlos Osorio/AP/dpa

Mercedes and BMW are parting with their loss-making car sharing service.

According to the Franco-Italian Stellantis group, it knows how to make money with it.

Munich/Stuttgart - BMW and Mercedes-Benz are selling their joint car-sharing subsidiary Share Now to the Franco-Italian car group Stellantis.

An agreement to this effect had been signed and the parties had agreed not to disclose the details.

The approval of the antitrust authorities is still pending.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz now want to expand their joint e-car charging service Charge Now and their mobility app Free Now, which will give customers access to 180,000 vehicles in over 150 cities and e-scooters through partners such as Sixt, Miles and Share Now. E-bikes, chauffeured cars and taxis.

Customers increasingly wanted to use an app to choose the best route from A to B from the entire range of mobility offers.

"The new orientation enables us to scale our activities more quickly and thus further profitable growth in the shortest possible time," said BMW manager Rainer Feurer.

Charging service and multi-mobility platform are two central business areas with high growth potential.

Last year, Free Now almost tripled the number of transactions, and this year ten new partners will be integrated on the platform.

Charge Now offers access to 300,000 charging points in Europe via the service provider DCS, including complete billing.

Share Now was created in 2019 by merging Daimler's carsharing car2go with BMW's DriveNow - a year after Sixt sold its 50 percent stake in Drive Now to partner BMW for 209 million euros.

However, the joint venture was in the red and soon withdrew from the USA, London, Brussels and other cities.

Opportunity to expand car sharing in Europe

According to BMW and Mercedes, the Stellantis subsidiary Free2move now has the opportunity to expand car sharing in Europe with the takeover of Share Now.

Mercedes-Benz Director Gero Götzenberger said: "Even if Mercedes-Benz will focus more on its core business in the luxury segment in the future, car sharing will remain an important part of urban mobility and at Free Now an essential element of the mobility offer."

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What customers will have to prepare for in 2022

In the planned takeover, Stellantis emphasized growth, especially in German cities.

According to Free2move boss Brigitte Courtehoux, you will gain another 3.4 million for your own sharing offer, which has been profitable since 2020 with 2 million customers so far.

Sales of 2.8 billion euros are expected in 2030 with 15 million customers worldwide and 700 million euros in 2025.

The Share Now cars will be taken over and no pure Stellantis fleet will be offered in the future either, said Courtehoux.

Although there are 14 strong brands, other customer requests will also be taken into account.

dpa