Daimler Financial Services AG announced today a new record in total number of customer for mobility services worldwide. In May 2018, the customer base for car2go, moovel and mytaxi totalled 22.9 million customers. This corresponds to an 88 percent increase year over year, compared to May 2017. mytaxi posted the strongest growth, 116%, compared to the previous year (14.9 million customers). moovel, an urban mobility company, enabling seamless multimodal experiences and connected transit commerce through mobile applications, has grown by 74% in comparison to the previous year (4.8 million customers). car2go, the market leader in free-floating car sharing, accounted for approximately 3.2 million customers worldwide at the end of May 2018 (+25 percent compared to the previous-year period). Customers are now benefiting from Daimler mobility offerings in more than 100 cities in Europe, China, North and South America.
Bodo Uebber, Board Member of Daimler AG responsible for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services: “Close to 23 million customers today rely on our mobility services. This growth clearly demonstrates that we are delighting new customers with our services worldwide. As the inventor of the automobile, Daimler will not leave the stage to others when it comes to urban mobility of the future. With the announcement of a planned joint venture with BMW, we are taking a further step toward strategic bundling and efficiency of our services. We expect our mobility services to further complement metropolises and future smart cities.”
Shareholders in Flixbus and taxify
Last month, Daimler Financial Services invested in the transport service provider called taxify through a recent round of financing. The Estonian-based company is one of the most rapidly growing ride-hailing services worldwide, already active in 20 countries and more than 25 cities. This latest addition of digital mobility services expands Daimler Financial Services portfolio, which includes shares in the shuttle service Via, the limousine driver service Blacklane and the American peer-to-peer car-sharing platform Turo, among others. In addition, Daimler Financial Services has been a shareholder in Flixmobility, the mobility provider for the FlixBus and FlixTrain brands, since 2013. The European market leader for long-distance bus travel is now positioning FlixBus in the USA in preparation to enter this highly competitive market.
E-mobility: new e-smarts at car2go
With 3.2 million customers, car2go is the market leader and pioneer of free-floating car sharing. In Madrid, Amsterdam and Stuttgart, car2go offers purely electric fleets. The electric fleet changeover began at the beginning of June, when the smart EQ Fortwo was introduced to the fleet in Stuttgart for the first time. The new e-smarts can be fully charged in just 45 minutes, which is expected to reduce idle time at the charging stations and significantly increase vehicle availability. A total of 1,400 of the 14,000 car2go vehicles around the world are electric. An electric car2go vehicle is rented, on average, every nine seconds.
car2go recently announced that its seventh location in North America is opening in Chicago, Illinois. Launching July 25, 2018, customers will have access to 400 car2go vehicles. With its high population density and well-established public transportation system, Chicago – the third-largest city in the USA by population** – offers an ideal scenario for the free-floating, car-sharing concept to achieve success. Each car-sharing vehicle from car2go replaces several private vehicles in urban traffic flow, thus increasing quality of life.
** Source: U.S. Census Bureau, May 24, 2018
Klaus Entenmann: Relying on smart transport solutions in future
Klaus Entenmann, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Daimler Financial Services AG: “Our offerings are already aligned to the urban mobility of tomorrow.10,000 purely electric trips daily give us important data and information today for developing an intelligent infrastructure for the electric age. At the same time, car sharing, ride-hailing or app-based communal trips contribute to keeping the air clean and reducing traffic in inner-city areas. Our aim remains emission-free mobility.”
moovel group: Partner for cities and transport companies
In Germany, the new service from the Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG “SSB Flex” is based on the moovel on-demand technology for ride sharing. moovel makes the operating software available to local transport providers. The algorithm of the moovel on-demand platform bundles users’ trip inquiries (“pooling”) and enables sharing trips (“ride sharing”). Cars and small buses can be ordered and paid for with the app. Following the booking, the app shows where and when the vehicle will pick up customers. SSB Flex is the first service for app-based communal trips in Germany that is run with route authorization, according to the Public Transport Act.
With a multimedia mobility platform, moovel enables cities and transport companies to include different mobility providers. The mobility app acts as an interface for cities and transport companies to end customers, so that public transport tickets can be booked and paid for, as well as other services, such as car sharing or taxi rides. This helps cities and transport companies make mobility more efficient and public local transport more attractive.
