car2gone: Carshare service SHARE NOW ceasing operations in North America
SHARE NOW, also known as Car2Go, has announced that it is ceasing operations in North America.
The decision was made after discussions with its two shareholders, Daimler AG and The BMW Group. In addition to exiting North America, SHARE NOW will also be closing operations in London, Brussels, and Florence.
It’s with a heavy heart that we must share that our last day of SHARE NOW service in North America will be 2/29/20. We are grateful to everyone who has supported us over the years and we regret the inconvenience caused when service ends. https://t.co/ABrFg4hIn4
— SHARE NOW North America (@sharenow__na) December 18, 2019
The company says that some of the factors that influenced its decision include the competitive market, rising operating costs, and a lack of infrastructure to support new technology.
The announcement was made public in a statement on Wednesday morning:
To Our Customers,
SHARE NOW, in conjunction with its shareholders at Daimler AG and The BMW Group, has decided to exit the North American market and cease operations in London, Brussels and Florence, effective February 29, 2020.
The decision to close North America was made based on two extremely complicated realities. The first being the volatile state of the global mobility landscape, and the second being the rising infrastructure complexities facing North American transportation today – such as a rapidly evolving competitive mobility landscape, the lack of necessary infrastructure to support new technology (including electric vehicle car share) and rising operating costs.
Further, despite our best efforts and investments in Brussels, London and Florence over the years, we are unable to continue operations in a manner that’s sustainable for our business due to low adoption rates.
Moving forward, SHARE NOW will focus on the remaining 18 European cities. We, along with our shareholders, believe these markets show the clearest potential for profitable growth and mobility innovation.
We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to every employee, member, business partner and city stakeholder who have supported us throughout the years in these markets. We deeply regret the inconvenience this decision causes.
Sincerely,
SHARE NOW
SHARE NOW is a recently-launched entity, including the two subsidiaries car2go and Drive-Now. The companies joined together in a merger in February, after an investment of nearly $1.5 billion from Daimler AG and BMW Group.
At the time of the merger, the two groups said that SHARE NOW would manage more than four million customers in 31 cities, including 200,000 in Vancouver – the company’s largest market in North America.
The car-sharing company announced in September, however, that they would be pulling service from Calgary, Austin, Denver, Portland, and Chicago before the end of 2019.
The last day of service for SHARE NOW has been scheduled for February 29, 2020.
- See also:
Follow Channels and Categories