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Volvo Forms Mobility Unit
Volvo Cars Corp. is launching a stand-alone company to oversee the carmaker’s car-sharing business.
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Volvo Cars Corp. is launching a stand-alone company to oversee the carmaker’s car-sharing business.
Dubbed Volvo Car Mobility—“M” for short—the Stockholm-based company will be headed by Bodil Eriksson. Pilot programs will start this autumn in unspecified test cities, followed by an official launch next spring in Sweden and the U.S.
Volvo’s 20-year-old Sunfleet car-sharing group, which operates 1,700 vehicles in Sweden with 50,000 users, will be merged into M. The company’s Care by Volvo subscription leasing service will not be part of the business.
Similar to other car-sharing services, M will provide “on-demand access” to cars and services through a smartphone application. In addition to coordinating transactions, Volvo says the app will include a proprietary learning algorithm to enhance personalization based on a user’s profile and anticipated needs.
Volvo says the program will enable members to use the service as if they personally owned the vehicles they use. The company aims to have more than 5 million “direct consumer relationships” through M by 2025, about 10 times Sunfleet’s volume last year.RELATED CONTENT
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