Car sharing scheme car2go announces closure of operations in London and Birmingham
Tue 27 May 2014
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Car2go, a car sharing business set up by Daimler and Europcar which operated in London and Birmingham, has announced that it is closing its UK operation, blaming the UK's strong culture and tradition of private vehicle ownership as the reason for its withdrawal.
Car2go was launched last year in Birmingham and had operated in London since December, 2012.
The company said it would reimburse people who were already registered, with a £14.99 one-off payment, for the scheme in Birmingham.
A spokesperson for car2go said: "As the world’s largest free-floating carsharing provider, we will continue to observe the UK market for cultural changes towards the free-floating model.
“Car2go will continue to be a worldwide success story as we operate in a total of 25 cities around the World with more than 700,000 customers.”
James Finlayson, managing director of City Car Club (reported in Fleet News), said: “Although Car2Go has been unable to make its business model work in the UK, the car club sector in general is in robust health.
“The latest figures from the industry show membership is up 9% this year on the back of five years of sustained growth.”
City Car Club’s business model relies on members returning the car to the original parking space, rather than Car2Go’s model where cars are left across a given area.
Finlayson continued: “In our experience, it isn’t so much the UK culture of car ownership that’s the barrier, making people aware that there’s an alternative out there that’s the real challenge.
Sandra Green from car club Co-wheels Birmingham doesn’t think the car2go decision is significant for the car sharing sector more widely. “I think the failure of car2go was that they came in with a ready-made solution rather than listening to what people actually need. Their small two-seater cars were promoted as a zippy way to make short journeys around the city - but it was already easy to do those trips by taxi, public transport, walking or cycling. We took a different approach, focusing on the situations when a car is really useful, like when you need to transport your kids and shopping.”
“Perhaps we do have more of a car culture than some other countries, but we’re finding that people are prepared to give up their cars when there’s a good option available - one that deals with those situations that buses and bicycles can’t. Not having to worry about things like maintenance and insurance is a weight off our members’ minds, and they like the way it encourages them to consider greener modes of transport rather than automatically jumping in a car.”
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