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BMW, Daimler May Merge Car-Sharing Units
BMW AG and Daimler AG may be in talks to combine their DriveNow and Car2Go car-sharing services, according to Reuters.
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BMW AG and Daimler AG may be in talks to combine their DriveNow and Car2Go car-sharing services, according to Reuters.
The news service cites Erich Sixt, CEO of car rental firm Sixt, which owns 50% of BMW’s DriveNow service.
Sixt said in May that his company wasn’t involved in merger talks between the BMW and Daimler service. Now he tells Reuters, “I can only say ‘no comment.’ This is of course a slightly different statement from the last one. Why things are dragging on is not down to us.”
The news service notes that the two carmakers have previously discussed pooling their services. Their reason is to better compete with ride-hailing rivals such as Lyft and Uber, both of which have begun to offer their own pay-per-use car services.
Analysts expect ride-hailing and ride-sharing service to boom as fully self-driving cars become available. Ride-hailing services such as Uber already account for one-third of the global taxi industry, according to Goldman Sachs. It says the market could surge eightfold to $285 billion per year when robotic cabs become available.
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