Stellantis is growing its business: what it bought from BMW and Mercedes

The acquisition will help Stellantis strengthen its position as one of the world’s leaders in shared mobility.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz are jointly selling their Share Now company to Stellantis for an undisclosed amount, the companies said.

The sale follows the withdrawal of Share Now from the North American car-sharing market in 2019, in response to high maintenance costs and what companies later described as “the volatile state of the global mobility landscape.”

Share Now, the European market leader, allows customers to use smartphones for short-term car rental, including Mini or Mercedes A-Class vehicles, in cities.

The sale also reflects the challenges facing car companies in accessing new sources of revenue beyond the sale of cars, especially in the field of developing mobility services.

Stellantis will strengthen its Free2move mobility division through the agreement, in the hope that a global effort to reduce emissions will also generate demand for car sharing and open up new profit streams.

The acquisition will help Stellantis strengthen its position as one of the world’s leaders in shared mobility.

What are Stellantis’ plans?

Over the next decade, Stellantis plans to expand Free2move’s global presence to 15 million active users and generate a net income of € 2.8 billion.

The targets come just over a year after the merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group to form an extended manufacturer of 14 brands with nameplates such as Jeep, Peugeot and Fiat to add scale to electric vehicle and self-driving exchanges.

The plan is part of Stellantis’ goal of maintaining double-digit profits by the end of the decade, reducing costs and earning additional revenue from new services as it moves to electric vehicles.

The sale marks another step in reshaping the mobility offerings for BMW and Mercedes. The pair combined those services in 2018 to take on providers like Uber and save costs.

With the sale of the division, BMW and Mercedes will focus on the remaining two parts of their mobility cooperation: Free Now, an application that allows you to book cars, taxis, scooters and electric bicycles, and the Charge Now charging infrastructure reservation application. .

“The new direction allows us to expand our business faster and thus achieve additional profitable growth in the shortest possible time,” said Rainer Feurer, BMW’s head of corporate investment.