Daimler and carpooling.com Forge Strategic Partnership

STUTTGART and MUNICH, Germany, July 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• Pioneer in urban mobility concepts and carpooling market leader bundle their know-how
• Daimler AG takes minority shareholding in carpooling.com GmbH
• Strong international growth planned - expansion to the US

Daimler AG is investing in the world's leading ridesharing network, carpooling.com GmbH. The main shareholders will continue to be the company's three founders, as well as venture capital firm Earlybird. The capital investment will serve primarily the development and expansion of carpooling.com's mobility solutions.

carpooling.com is the world's leading ridesharing network, transporting 1 million people a month across Europe. The platform is available on the Internet, on smartphone apps and Facebook. The company possesses the most profound experience globally in bringing together ride-sharers for both medium- and long-distance trips, as well as for commuting. By reviewing profiles and ratings users know exactly who they are traveling with. In addition to rides, the company's platform also offers bus, rail and airline tickets.

This strategic partnership bundles the know-how of two leading players in the mobility sector. In addition to its 126 years of expertise in automotive engineering and automotive systems applications, Daimler is also the market leader in fully flexible short-term car rental models with car2go which has  over 130,000 customers. Since early 2012, Daimler has also held a share in MyTaxi. In July 2012 Daimler launched the mobility platform moovel. Moreover, Daimler has gathered experience in the ridesharing market in two pilot projects in Ulm and Aachen with its car2gether ad-hoc ridesharing system.

The goal of the partnership is to further expand carpooling.com's platforms and intelligently integrate the offerings within Daimler's mobility solutions. The partners will be benefiting from each other's experience in connection with customer needs, technical systems development, as well as in international rollouts of successful mobility concepts.

"We view ridesharing as an important element of intelligently networked mobility. Our engagement in carpooling.com is a logical step in offering our customers an even wider range for getting from Point A to Point B," notes Wilfried Steffen, who heads up Business Innovation at Daimler AG. "We are pleased that this strategic partnership will enable us to support carpooling.com's growth and further development."

"The partnership gives us an unprecedented opportunity to grow the carpooling.com marketplace. As a leading automotive player Daimler will serve as a strong partner in further establishing the role of modern carpooling in Europe and overseas. We will be utilizing the new capital to further improve our offerings, broaden our customer service and make carpooling available to even more users worldwide," is the way carpooling.com CEO Markus Barnikel explains the reasoning behind Daimler AG's investment in the company.

In mid July 2012, both companies announced a technical cooperation for the pilot project moovel. The moovel mobility platform allows users to choose the best way to get from A to B in urban areas.

Further information about Daimler is available on the Internet at: http://www.media.daimler.com and http://www.daimler.com

Further information about carpooling.com is available on the Internet at: http://www.carpooling.com

About Daimler:

Daimler AG is one of the world's most successful automotive companies. With its divisions Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services, the Daimler Group is one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world's biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global reach. Daimler Financial Services provides financing, leasing, fleet management, insurance and innovative mobility services. The company's founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, made history with the invention of the automobile in the year 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, Daimler continues to shape the future of mobility today: The Group's focus is on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior automobiles that appeal to and fascinate its customers. For many years now, Daimler has been investing continually in the development of alternative drive systems with the goal of making emission-free driving possible in the long term. So in addition to vehicles with hybrid drive, Daimler now has the broadest range of locally emission-free electric vehicles powered by batteries and fuel cells. This is just one example of how Daimler willingly accepts the challenge of meeting its responsibility towards society and the environment. Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly all the countries of the world and has production facilities on five continents. Its current brand portfolio includes, in addition to the world's most valuable premium automotive brand, Mercedes-Benz, the brands smart, Maybach, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, Fuso, Setra, Orion and Thomas Built Buses. The company is listed on the stock exchanges of Frankfurt and Stuttgart (stock exchange symbol DAI). In 2011, the Group sold 2.1 million vehicles and employed a workforce of more than 271,000 people; revenue totaled euro 106.5 billion and EBIT amounted to euro 8.8 billion.

About carpooling.com

Carpooling.com is the world's leading ridesharing network with 4 million registered users and daily access to more than 650,000 rides. Rides can be accessed by computer, mobile phone (iPhone, Android) or social network (Facebook). A staff of some 45 people support the company's platforms that afford carpooling opportunities for both short and long trips. In addition, carpooling.com also offers custom-tailored commuting solutions for municipalities and private-sector organizations.  By sharing a ride, people save gas and money, reduce carbon emissions and meet new friends. Thanks to carpooling.com, 860,000 tons of C02 and 430 million liters of gas have been saved; not counting the millions of savings by users and the thousands of friendships created (including more than 16 marriages!).

Media contact at carpooling.com GmbH:
Odile Beniflah                
Telephone: +1-718-717-8107                
Email: [email protected]    

Media contact at Daimler AG:
Shirin Emeera
Telephone: +49(0)711-17-93271
E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE carpooling.com