Subscribe & Follow
Advertise your job vacancies
Trending
Jobs
- Dangerous Goods Code 10 Driver George
- Junior Patroller Harrismith
- Dispatch Supervisor Cape Town
- Administrator (Internal Sales Department) Vereeniging
- Executive Assistant and Office Admin Johannesburg
- Head of Procurement Johannesburg
- Outbound Logistics Manager - Freight Forwarding Cape Town
- Sales / Account Manager - Supply Chain Cape Town
- Planning and Procurement Manager Cape Town
- Senior Buyer Cape Town
Daimler, BMW to merge car-sharing services
FRANKFURT, Germany - German carmakers Daimler and BMW said on Wednesday they would merge their car-sharing services Car2Go and DriveNow, creating a European giant with around four million users to take on challengers like Uber.
© rclassenlayouts via 123RF
"We will not leave the task of shaping the future of urban mobility to others," Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche said of the merger, which still requires approval from competition authorities.
"Both automotive manufacturers aim to shape the mobility of the future" with the move, the two companies said, but "will remain competitors in their respective core businesses."
Car2Go and DriveNow allow users to rent Daimler's Smart cars and BMW Minis as well as the two groups' flagship Mercedes-Benz and BMW vehicles by the minute, picking them up and parking wherever is convenient rather than at a rental location.
Combined, they boast some 20,000 cars in 30 cities across Europe and North America and an Asian foothold in Chongqing, China.
The two companies said "initially nothing will change" in customers' experience of their services.
But ultimately they aim to provide an "ecosystem" of different mobility services in cooperation with cities, with a particular focus on electric transport.
As well as merging the car-sharing apps, Daimler and BMW said they would combine other business areas like taxi-hailing apps or services that locate parking spaces and electric car charging points.
Citing industry sources, German business daily Handelsblatt said the 50-50 joint venture would be worth more than €1bn ($1.24bn).
Companies across the car sector - Germany's largest and most vital, supporting around 800,000 jobs - have been scrambling to adapt to an anticipated future of battery-powered, automated and highly networked vehicles.
The rise of new Silicon Valley challengers like ride-hailing giant Uber or electric carmaker Tesla have spurred the German giants into action, as have scandals around excessive harmful emissions from diesel motors and allegations of an automakers' cartel.
Source: AFP
Source: I-Net Bridge
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
Related
