Stellantis buys car-sharing business from BMW, Mercedes (updated)

Free2Move Holding AB

03/05/2022 08:33

(Adds details, context)
    FRANKFURT/MILAN, May 3 (Reuters) - Stellantis  STLA.MI  has
agreed to buy the Share Now car sharing business from BMW
 BMWG.DE  and Mercedes-Benz  MBGn.DE  as the two German groups
focus on the software part of their mobility alliance.
    Formed last year through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and
Peugeot maker PSA, Stellantis wants to position itself as a
global leader in car-sharing, using this step announced on
Tuesday to expand its existing business in the area.
    The deal reflects different approaches by carmakers who are
trying to tap new sources of revenues beyond selling vehicles,
most notably in the developing area of mobility services.
    Brigitte Courtehoux, who heads Stellantis' mobility division
Free2move, said the deal was part of the group's plans to grow
net revenues of that business to 700 million euros ($735
million) in 2025 and to 2.8 billion euros in 2030.
    "We will really accelerate in terms of revenues," she said.
    Stellantis said the deal would allow Free2move to add 14
major European cities and 10,000 vehicles to its current
2,500-strong car sharing fleet, gaining over 3.4 million
customers.
    "We're at break even since mid-2020, we know how to be
profitable in this business," Courtehoux said.
    She added the Free2Move fleet would not turn 100% Stellantis
but said "step by step we'll have more and  more Stellantis cars
in it". 
    
    DIFFERENT ROUTE
    No financial details were provided for the transaction.
Italian daily la Repubblica said it was worth around 100 million
euros. 
    Milan-listed shares in Stellantis were up 2.1% by 0730 GMT.
    Share Now retreated from the North American market in 2019
in response to high maintenance costs and what the companies
then described as the "volatile state of the global mobility
landscape".
    BMW CEO Oliver Zipse in late 2020 fuelled speculation of a
reorganisation of the mobility services alliance with
Mercedes-Benz when he flagged the option of bringing in new
partners or a possible partial sale.
    By selling the division, BMW and Mercedes-Benz will focus on
the two remaining parts of their mobility cooperation: Free Now,
an app that enables the booking of cars, taxis, e-scooters and
e-bikes, and the charging infrastructure booking app Charge Now.
    "The new orientation enables us to scale our activities
faster and thus to achieve further profitable growth in the
shortest possible time," said Rainer Feurer, BMW's Head of
Corporate Investments.
 ($1 = 0.9519 euros)

 (Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Christina Amann and Giulio
Piovaccari; editing by Barbara Lewis and Keith Weir)
 ((giulio.piovaccari@thomsonreuters.com))