January 31, 2017

Car share? I'll take the Mercedes.

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Metro News reports on a new entry when you go to rent a car share from Car2go-instead of those  blue and white Smart Fortwos that can be seen around town-you can rent out a Mercedes-Benz.

Why? Because some people want a four door! As the general manager of Car2go stated  “We listened to our members and we realize that our two doors are great but they don’t capture all the use cases that the citizens of Vancouver want to carry out so the four-door vehicles carry a lot more flexibility and a lot more options.”

Metro News reports that “The company describes the CLA as “a fun and sexy four-door coupe” and the GLA as “a sporty, five-door urban SUV.” It is a bit strange to see a car share company use the hype typically associated with car salesmen in sales promotion instead of listing that very important features-heated seats-which would be a big sell. Not to worry, the Mercedes come with sunroofs and rearview cameras too. There will be 150 Mercedes sports models, and 100 sedans, with some of the smart cars being phased out.

As the second largest Car2go city in North America, the company says one of its cars is used every twenty seconds. And the costs for the Mercedes-Benz vehicle will be 45 cents a minute, while the regular two door car share is at 32 cent way trips. 

We will take the heated seats, please.

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  1. Interesting move. Four door car2go models (five door, actually) have already been available for a year or so, in the form of the B-Class, albeit in limited numbers. I wonder if the CLA and GLA will replace the B-Class models currently in the fleet. They are more expensive, luxurious models, so while they fulfil many of the same use cases as the B-Class (with a bit more passenger space), they do so at a higher price point.
    Contrast this with the other one-way car share option in Vancouver, Evo, which uses cheaper models (Prius C) for lower operating costs, and two-way carsharing (Modo), which is non-profit and thus much cheaper.
    Daimler-Benz owns car2go, so it is as much a mobility solution as a marketing/branding platform for introducing potential customers to luxurious Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

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