Helsinki becomes DriveNow’s twelfth location in Europe

12 May 2017

DriveNow, the car sharing joint venture of the BMW Group and Sixt SE, is expanding its network to Helsinki. Starting on 24 May 24, operations will commence in the Finnish capital with initially 150 BMW and MINI models in a business area covering 40 square kilometres. For the second time, a franchise model is being used.

DriveNow managing director Nico Gabriel said ′Launching operations in Helsinki as the twelfth DriveNow city is a significant step for us. After Copenhagen and Stockholm, we are augmenting the Scandinavian market to include the capital city of Finland as a further important location.’

′Helsinki is an extremely modern city that has a great interest in European lifestyle and that exhibits a strong demand for individual mobility, yet for the most part relies on a classic transportation mix,’ explained Sebastian Hofelich, co-Managing Director at DriveNow. ′Up to now there is no comparable car sharing concept. Our offer is therefore ideal for closing a gap in the range of mobility and also giving people an alternative to their own vehicle,” he added.

The usage rights for the DriveNow operation in Finland are being assigned to OP Financial Group, the biggest financial services provider in the country. After Copenhagen, Helsinki is the second city where DriveNow will be operated within the framework of a franchise model. ′With OP, we are pleased to have found a strong partner for DriveNow in Helsinki. The company fulfils all of the requirements that we expect from a franchisee,’ said Gabriel.

′We are happy to announce the co-operation with DriveNow and further expand our range of mobility services. Our strategy is very future-oriented and we want to build it together with the best partners. Based on these principles we believe that DriveNow is the right car sharing service partner for us and our customers,’ said Masa Peura, director of new business areas at OP.

DriveNow will launch operations in Helsinki with an initial fleet of 150 vehicles spread over a business area of around 40 square kilometres. From the outset, the fleet will include a broad selection of BMW and MINI models – from the BMW X1 and 2 series to the MINI three- and five-door models through to the fully electric BMW i3.

DriveNow recently announced that 1.4 million trips have been taken by the electric vehicles in their fleet and a strategic partnership announced this week between the BMW Group and Hamburg aims to expand the city’s fleet of electrified DriveNow vehicles to around 550 by 2019. However, a futurist at Daimler said only on Monday that car sharing will no longer exist in 10-15 years.