4 June 2013

Car sharing to grow, Ford joins the party

Ford has entered the car-sharing market in Europe, a sector estimated to involve about 15m users by 2020, writes Brian Byrne.

Peugeot-Citroen, Daimler, Toyota and VW are already in the market, which currently numbers 700,000 users, according to a report in Automotive News Europe. The largest proportion of the business is expected to be in Germany, Britain and France.

Consultants Frost & Sullivan say more than four in ten car owners are now considering joining a car-sharing programme, while Ford suggests that more than half would. Most of those already using car-sharing instead of owning cars are under 34, and it's believed that there's now one rental car for every 12 private cars in the key European markets group.

Ford2Go is being rolled out in conjunction with German dealerships. Daimler has been operating its Car2go since 2008 and is profitable in a number of the cities where it operates. BMW has offered car-sharing since 2011 with the Sixt car rental company, and VW launched the whole concept back in 1997.