Mercedes and BMW intend to sell their car-sharing joint venture to Stellantis

Mercedes-Benz Mobility and BMW Group intend to sell their joint venture SHARE NOW to Stellantis. The three companies recently signed an agreement to this effect and agreed not to disclose the details of the transaction. It is also subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities.

The sale of the car-sharing subsidiary contributes to the realignment of the mobility joint ventures: In the future, shareholders intend to concentrate on two central business areas with high growth potential: digital multi-mobility (FREE NOW) and digital services related to the charging of electric vehicles (CHARGE NOW).

Gero Götzenberger, Director of Strategy and Investments at Mercedes-Benz Mobility: “We are proud to have founded the free-floating car sharing segment with car2go. Although Mercedes-Benz will focus more strongly on its core business in the luxury segment, car sharing will remain an important part of urban mobility and an essential element in the mobility offer at FREE NOW. With FREE NOW and CHARGE NOW, we are focusing on two growth segments that will continue to offer our customers the entire range of mobility services in the future and support the expansion of electric mobility.”

Rainer Feurer, Head of Corporate Investments at the BMW Group, adds: “The mobility joint ventures have been pioneers in Europe – FREE NOW and CHARGE NOW have been very successful in building a software platform for as many players as possible in their respective segments. With the apps of FREE NOW and CHARGE NOW, we want to provide our customers with a comprehensive and wide range of digital services.  The new orientation enables us to scale our activities faster and thus to achieve further profitable growth in the shortest possible time.”

Expansion of SHARE NOW into the leading car sharing provider in Europe SHARE NOW was established in 2019 and combines the DNA of car2go, which was developed by the former Daimler AG, and DriveNow, the BMW Group’s offering.