car2go And Mercedes-Benz Bet Big On Carsharing With Significant Rollout Of New CLA, GLA Vehicles

car2go N.A., the largest flexible one-way carsharing service in North America, surprised its members in a big way today with the introduction of the first – of  what will be thousands –  new 2017 model year Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA four-door, five passenger vehicles. car2go anticipates that Mercedes-Benz vehicles will comprise the majority of its North American fleet by the end of 2017.

This exciting new development comes on the heels of car2go's recent upgrades to its member experience with the rollout of thousands of new, improved, car2go smart fortwo vehicles to its U.S. and Canadian network. car2go's significant investment in new vehicles underscores the service's confidence in the continued growth and adoption of carsharing in North America.

"At Mercedes-Benz we see the four key pillars for future mobility as connectivity, autonomous driving, carsharing, and electrification," said Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. "Today we take another step toward that future by adding the new Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA to car2go's North American fleet. car2go is already the most popular carsharing service in the world. Now it will be even more attractive to small groups of friends and families who want to conveniently travel around cities in style, safety, and comfort."

car2go was initially piloted in Ulm, Germany in 2008 by Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, smart and car2go. Since then, car2go has evolved from an innovative mobility experiment to become the largest one-way carsharing company on Earth, with over 2.2 million members sharing cars on three continents. car2go's free-floating carsharing service does not use fixed rental stations or require reservations. Instead, vehicles are spread throughout a city. car2go members simply use the car2go app on their smartphone to locate, unlock, drive, and park their car2go in any legal parking space within a city's Home Area.

"Our 2017 CLA and GLA vehicles have proven to be extremely popular with American and Canadian drivers," said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA and NAFTA. "We are offering these outstanding new vehicles to car2go's North American members, who will now have exclusive carsharing access to Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Mercedes-Benz believes in car2go, and in carsharing. In fact, Mercedes-Benz has worked closely with car2go North America since it launched in 2009 with the iconic smart fortwo vehicles. car2go's new Mercedes-Benz vehicles will enable hundreds of thousands of people outside our traditional customer base to experience the CLA and GLA in the car2go fleet, as well as the outstanding new smart fortwo."

car2go members in Austin, TX; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; and the Washington, D.C. area are the first to enjoy new Mercedes-Benz car2gos starting today. car2go members in Toronto, ON and Vancouver, BC will get to experience new Mercedes-Benz car2gos in early February. car2go will continue to update its network with new Mercedes-Benz and smart vehicles across its North American locations throughout the year, helping car2go's 800,000-plus North American members travel in style, comfort, and safety to life's biggest moments – and all the moments in between.

Mercedes-Benz invented the modern automobile and for more than a century the brand has been revered for innovation, quality, luxury and safety. Today, car2go is making all of those virtues – and the additional passenger and cargo space that comes with them – available to anyone in the U.S. and Canada with a car2go membership. As always, fuel, parking, vehicle maintenance and insurance is covered by car2go, enabling car2go members to enjoy all the freedom of vehicle mobility without the associated costs and responsibilities of ownership, which can be especially challenging in densely populated cities where the cost of living is high.

car2go's decision to bring large numbers of Mercedes-Benz vehicles into the company's U.S. and Canadian network was informed by an extremely successful pilot program enabling car2go members in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver to take trips in Mercedes-Benz B class car2go vehicles. Mercedes-Benz vehicles involved in this pilot program have been in near-constant use by car2go members, and car2go anticipates that usage of incoming Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA vehicles will be equally high.

"Mercedes-Benz has been a strong partner of car2go since we launched in 2009, delivering car2go's original network of smart fortwo vehicles," said Paul DeLong, CEO of car2go North America. "Today our service is an important part of over 800,000-plus people's lives, and it's so satisfying for us to be able to reward our members with incredible new Mercedes-Benz car2gos that are just as good at taking people on long weekend getaways as they are at running errands and making short trips with friends. Together, car2go and Mercedes-Benz are taking a next big step by giving our members choices the competition can't match – the best car on the road for parking in tight city spaces with our smart fortwo, and now our larger and more luxurious Mercedes-Benz vehicles."

car2go membership rising rapidly, millions of car2go trips taken

In 2016, car2go enjoyed approximately 43-percent year over year membership growth. This underscores the huge and growing potential of the carsharing sector. According to an August 2016 carsharing report¹ by Frost & Sullivan, the global carsharing market is expected to grow from 7.9 million people in 2015 to over 36 million people by 2025.

In October 2016, car2go surpassed the 2 million member milestone, and as of today serves more than 2.2 million members. car2go N.A. is the largest flexible one-way carsharing service in North America with more than 800,000 members in the U.S. and Canada sharing more than 5,500 cars. car2go also boasts more than 1.2 million members across Europe and 140,000 members in Chongqing since car2go launched its first Chinese location in April, 2016.

Every 1.4 seconds, a car2go member takes a trip in one of nearly 14,000 cars serving car2go members in eight countries on three continents. Since its inception, car2go has helped its members take more than 74 million trips totaling more than 320 million miles.

Meet the new car2gos: Mercedes-Benz CLAs, GLAs, and the next generation smart

car2go's 2017 Mercedes-Benz CLA is a fun and sexy 4-door coupe and car2go's 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLA is a sporty 5-door small SUV with added cargo capacity. These new Mercedes-Benz car2gos come equipped with the following features:

• Rearview camera, providing drivers with a 180-degree view on an 8-inch/20.3cm screen for added confidence when backing-up
• Blind Spot Assist, which warns drivers when another vehicle or object is in their blind spot
• Adaptive Braking, a radar-based technology that can autonomously brake at speeds of up to 65 mph/104 km/h and alert drivers when approaching a vehicle ahead – including some stationary objects – at a speed and distance that suggest a collision is likely
• Heated front seats
• Bluetooth
• Navigation
• Panoramic sunroof
• SiriusXM® satellite radio
• Multiple air-bags and anti-lock braking systems

Additional features include:

• Full smartphone integration including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Incredible sound through a harman/kardon surround sound system
• A fuel-efficient 2.0L inline-4 cylinder turbo engine with 208 hp and 258 lb-ft that accelerates quickly while still achieving impressive fuel economy: up to 36-mpg (U.S. EPA combined estimate), in part through Mercedes-Benz's innovative ECO start/stop system that turns off the engine to prevent fuel consumption while idling at a stop, and re-starts the engine instantly when the driver moves from the brake to the gas pedal.

All car2go GLAs are equipped with Mercedes-Benz's award-winning 4MATIC all-wheel drive system for maximum traction in slippery winter driving conditions. All Mercedes-Benz CLAs in Toronto and Vancouver will come equipped with 4MATIC. Mercedes-Benz car2gos come in three colors: Night Black, Cirrus White, and Polar Silver.

car2go members in several locations are already enjoying car2go's new next-generation smart vehicles, which began entering the fleet in the latter half of 2016. At just 8.8 ft/2.7 m in length, car2go's diminutive smart fortwo is the easiest car to street-park in any city, saving members from the age old, time-consuming hunt for a large enough parking space. Yet, smart fortwo car2gos do not sacrifice comfort or performance, with conveniences like heated seats, Bluetooth integration, navigation, a smooth-shifting dual-clutch transmission and a more powerful turbocharged engine.

For full specifications on the new car2go fleet and photos, please visit www.car2go.com/NA/en/mercedes. For more information on how car2go's flexible one-way carsharing service works and how to become a member, please visit www.car2go.com.

Pricing

Pricing for trips in car2go's larger, more feature-rich Mercedes-Benz vehicles is slightly higher than trips in car2go's diminutive smart fortwo vehicles, but are still quite affordable. For details on car2go pricing, frequent specials, and to become a new car2go member please visit www.car2go.com.

Carsharing: an effective new way for automakers to reach consumers in an evolving urban mobility landscape

Carsharing services like car2go are changing the transportation landscape in urban areas for the better, creating new opportunities for automakers to expose their brand to a younger, urban-dwelling demographic who want affordable access to vehicle mobility, but are not yet ready to purchase a car. The brand connections automakers make today with younger urban consumers through carsharing are expected to pay-off in the future when many of those very same people settle in suburban and rural areas to raise families and are ready to buy personal vehicles which best support that lifestyle.

Research study confirms car2go one-way carsharing helps cities reduce vehicle congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and the number of aging cars on the road

Recent research highlighted how one-way carsharing improves quality of life in increasingly dense North American cities. In July 2016, The University of California Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center released the findings of the first-ever impact study of one-way carsharing in North American cities. The study found that each car2go vehicle removed up to 11 vehicles from urban roads in the five cities studied and helped to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The average age of vehicles car2go members reported selling was 14.4 years across all the cities, thus helping to remove more polluting vehicles with older emission systems from city streets. The researchers estimated that in 2015 alone, car2go removed up to 28,000 personal vehicles from the streets of five North American cities studied.

To download a PDF of UC Berkeley TSRC's one-way North American carsharing study, please visit http://innovativemobility.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Impactsofcar2go_FiveCities_2016.pdf

U.S. car2go member exclusive: love our cars so much you want to buy one too? Special U.S. car2go member discount on all new Mercedes-Benz, smart vehicles valid throughout 2017

car2go knows that some of its members love car2go vehicles so much, they want to own one of their very own. For those members who want to purchase or lease a new smart fortwo or Mercedes-Benz, car2go and Mercedes-Benz USA have partnered to extend a discount offer to car2go members residing in the U.S. This discount offer – which ranges from $500 to up to $4,500 depending upon model and dealer participation – may be applied to the purchase or lease of any new smart or Mercedes-Benz vehicle, excluding the SLS AMG and AMG GT Class, unless otherwise noted. As an added benefit, this offer may be combined with many of the retail programs that are offered at the time of the transaction.

car2go members who reside in the U.S. may redeem this promotion and view the associated Terms and Conditions by visiting https://www.research.net/r/NLYPM3T?x. Upon verification, a coupon will be emailed to you within five business days. If you are not a car2go member and would like to sign-up for a car2go membership, please visit www.car2go.com/

About car2go N.A., LLC

car2go N.A., LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, offers an innovative mobility solution in rapidly growing urban areas via a carsharing network of affordable, eco-friendly Mercedes-Benz and smart vehicles. A flexible and "on demand" mode of transportation, car2go complements existing public transportation by bridging the gaps between the "first and last mile" of a member's commute. Today, car2go's global operation is the largest, fastest-growing carsharing program in the world with more than 2,200,000 registered members sharing a fleet of nearly 14,000 vehicles in 26 locations in North America, Europe and Asia.

The innovation and environmental sustainability of car2go have earned international acclaim, including TripAdvisor's 2015 "Travelers' Choice" award, "Best Carshare" from the Vancouver Courier, "2015 Best CarSharing Service" from Best of D.C., "2014 Best CarSharing App" from Best of D.C., recognition from the Austin Chamber of Commerce with the "Greater Austin Business Award" for its positive impact on the city's traffic, and the prestigious "2010 EPA Clean Air Excellence Award" from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Further information on car2go is available at car2go.com and car2go.com/NA/en/press/.

SOURCE car2go N.A., LLC

Related Links

http://www.car2go.com