BMW and Daimler discontinue car sharing in North America

Daimler and BMW are currently merging their car sharing brands Car2go and DriveNow into a joint Share Now. Hopes were high, but Share Now had to withdraw from some cities. Now the bang is following: operations in Canada, the USA and the three European cities of Brussels, Florence and London will be discontinued at the end of February.

That has Share Now communicated Wednesday night, Share Now cites fierce competition, rising operating costs and a lack of charging stations for electric vehicles as reasons for the withdrawal from North America. In the European cities concerned, the company claims to have won too few customers. The synergy effects from the joint car sharing from Daimler and BMW obviously do not suffice

Share Now even throws in the towel in London for the second time after Car2go gave up there in 2014. Share Now withdrew from China at the end of June. Austin, Calgary, Denver, and Portland, Oregon followed in late October; Chicago is also over at the end of the year. As of March, 18 cities will remain in Europe, where Share Now rents BMW, Mercedes, Mini and Smart vehicles at minute prices.

(Ds)