BMW buys the partner Sixt their shares in the joint car sharing provider DriveNow from. The move could pave the way for a possible merger of BMW and Daimler car sharing services.
Getty Images
DriveNow Mini
Monday, 29.01.2018
14:41 clock
The car-sharing service DriveNow should in the future belong to BMW alone. The car rental company Sixt is leaving the shared carsharing platform. BMW pays for about half of the previous joint venture about 209 million euros. The supervisory authorities must agree to the transaction, release is expected in the second quarter.
The move could pave the way for a possible merger of BMW and Daimler car sharing services, which Sixt blocked. According to a media report BMW and Daimler will soon merge their subsidiaries Drive Now and Car2Go. Already in February, the two automakers therefore want the merger of car sharingCompanies announce.
Both brands are to remain in a merger. BMW sticks to the Drive Now brand, Daimler to Car2Go. Everything that makes the operation of the flexible short-term lending of cars possible, the so-called backend including the IT technology, but should be merged – which should lead to significant cost savings. A common Internet platform should bundle the offers in a way that is practical for the customers.
Both car-sharing offers are based on the principle of flexible car rental, with no fixed stops and with minute-by-minute billing. Car2Go has 14,000 cars and three million customers. Daimler is working with its car sharing service with the car rental company Europcar, which has a 25 percent stake in Car2Go Europe. DriveNow from BMW has 6000 cars and one million customers. Both companies did not comment on turnover, profit or loss.