Daimler and PSA Group advance mobility businesses

29 July 2019

Daimler Financial Services has changed to Daimler Mobility, acting as a provider of financing, leasing, insurance and fleet management for the entire German group.

Furthermore, the Daimler Mobility business division is a strategic investor in mobility services such as FREE NOW and SHARE NOW, the carmaker’s mobility service companies it operates in partnership with BMW following the merger of car2go and Drive Now.

As part of the approved implementation of the Daimler Group’s Project Future, Daimler Mobility AG is one of the three legally autonomous units under the umbrella of Daimler AG, alongside Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler Truck AG, in a new structure announced last year.

′We finance mobility. We insure mobility. We develop flexible solutions, such as rental and subscription models. And we are an active shareholder in several innovative mobility services,’ says Franz Reiner, chairman of Daimler Mobility. ′The new name takes full account of this spectrum. We also offer our customers mobility solutions through joint ventures with partners such as the BMW Group and the Geely Group Company.’

Since the start of the mobility joint ventures in February 2019, the companies established by Daimler and BMW have developed very positively. As of 30 June, more than 75 million people had used the mobility services of the five joint ventures for ride-hailing (FREE NOW), car-sharing (SHARE NOW), on-demand mobility and multimodality (REACH NOW), parking (PARK NOW) and charging (CHARGE NOW), according to a company statement. By the end of the second quarter, 269 million transactions had been concluded with the services of the YOUR NOW joint-venture companies.

PSA Rent

Meanwhile, as part of its short-term car rental business Free2Move, PSA Group’s mobility brand is opening up the Free2Move Rent database to B2B customers.

By the end of 2019, close to 20,000 passenger and commercial vehicles will be available for hire in 1,300 branches across Europe, which the French company believes will position the business as a local car rental service with a dense network of agencies.

Following this move, B2B customers will be able to access all Peugeot, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Opel and Vauxhall brand vehicles.

The Free2Move brand consolidates all PSA Group’s mobility services, and by opening it up to B2B, the service will expand further to take advantage of businesses that require short-term vehicle rental. Alongside this side of the company, the service also offers a city travel app, fleet management and car-share services, currently available around Paris. It bolstered its rental side with the acquisition of TravelCar in February this year.