Share Now
Stellantis takes over carsharing from BMW and Mercedes
BMW and Mercedes are selling their shared carsharing subsidiary Share Now to Stellantis
© Jens Kalaene / DPA
BMW and Mercedes-Benz are selling their joint car-sharing subsidiary Share Now to the Stellantis car group. The car company wants to make the service a global giant. BMW and Mercedes-Benz want to focus on other mobility offerings.
A corresponding agreement to take over Share Now has been signed and non-disclosure of the details has been agreed, the companies announced on Tuesday. The approval of the antitrust authorities is still pending.
With the sale of the joint carsharing subsidiary, BMW and Mercedes-Benz now wanted to expand their joint e-car charging service Charge Now and their mobility app Free Now, which gives customers access to 180,000 vehicles in Germany via partners such as Sixt, Miles or Share Now over 150 cities as well as e-scooters, 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 services and multi-mobility platforms are two key business areas with high growth potential. Last year, Free Now almost tripled the number of transactions, and ten new partners will be integrated on the platform this year. 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.
Stellantis is aiming for billions in sales with carsharing
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.”
Stellantis emphasized the growth from the acquisition. With 2 million customers, you win 3.4 million more for your own Free2move offer. Sales of 2.8 billion euros are expected in 2030 and 700 million euros in 2025, the group said in Amsterdam.