car2go Continues Expansion in Canada and the USA

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AUSTIN, Texas, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- car2go North America LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, announced today it will expand its carsharing operations in Canada and the United States this summer, making urban mobility more convenient, more flexible, and more widely available than ever before.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120613/NY24118 )

car2go will officially start operations in Toronto on June 30, in Calgary on July 21 and in Miami, Florida on July 28. Member registration for all three cities opens today at car2go.com, offering free membership and free driving time for a limited time.

"As car2go continues to grow and spread its carsharing business throughout North America and throughout the world, more people will have access to an entirely new form of automobility," said Bodo Uebber, member of the Board of Management at Daimler AG and chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler Financial Services, the division at Daimler responsible for car2go. "The success of car2go around the world to date shows that we are in a time that demands and calls for new mobility solutions in urban settings, and Daimler is at the forefront of this movement."

Developed four years ago at the Daimler Business Innovation Unit in Stuttgart, Germany, car2go currently provides more than 4,000 fuel-efficient smart fortwo vehicles (including 625 electric drive cars) to more than 100,000 members worldwide for shared use. Collectively car2go members have taken more than two million trips throughout 11 cities worldwide. The number of car2go cities, members, and trips has more than doubled within the past six months.

"We are proud to continue our expansion of car2go throughout Canada and the United States this summer," said Nicholas Cole, president and CEO of car2go North America. "Soon, the cities of Toronto, Calgary and Miami will have access to the unprecedented flexibility and convenience of the car2go way of carsharing."  

"The people who live, work and visit these cities will join the ranks of more than 50,000 car2go members in North America who have access to our service every day," Cole went on to say. "car2go is not only becoming a recognizable part of each new city we enter, but we are also becoming a fundamental part of people's daily lives."

A Different Way to Carshare

Each car2go city in North America has a large network of 200 to 300 fuel-efficient smart fortwo cars that are available for members to use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As the world's first free-floating carsharing service, car2go provides a new way of carsharing that is unique, particularly in these three areas:

• FREE FLOATING: Members can pick up and drop off any car2go anywhere within the car2go Home Area — they do not need to drive the car back to its original location or commit to a predetermined amount of time. They can simply drive the car for as long as they need it, park the car at their destination, and end the rental by swiping the card on the windshield reader. At this moment the car becomes available for the next member to use.
• PAY BY THE MINUTE: Members pay by the minute for the actual time they use the car, with discounted rates for hourly and daily use. There is no minimum amount of time that a car can be used — whether they need a car for ten minutes or an entire day, members simply get in and drive, for as long as they want, without a mandatory return time or location. Parking fees, fuel, maintenance and insurance are included at no additional cost, and there are no annual or monthly fees.
• ON DEMAND: Members can use the first available car2go they find, via a smart phone app, with the car2go vehicle finder at car2go.com, by calling the customer call center, or by simply locating an available car2go on the street. Members can also reserve a vehicle up to 24 hours in advance, although reservations are not required. Members have unrestricted and unlimited access to car2go vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Registration Begins Now

Member registration for all three cities opens today, June 13 at Toronto.car2go.com, Calgary.car2go.com and Miami.car2go.com. For a limited time, people can use a promotion code to receive 30 free minutes of driving time and have the one-time $35 membership fee waived: Codes are TDOT for Toronto, ONWARD for Calgary and HEAT for Miami.

Follow car2go on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook:

Toronto: @car2goToronto and facebook.com/car2go.Toronto
Calgary: @car2goCalgary and facebook.com/car2go.Calgary
Miami: @car2goMiami and facebook.com/car2go.Miami

About car2go

A wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler, car2go offers an innovative mobility solution redefining individual transportation in rapidly growing urban areas by offering a network of several hundred environment-friendly smart fortwo vehicles for rent. It provides an innovative mode of "on-demand" transportation, which complements existing public transportation alternatives by bridging the gaps commonly associated with the "first and last mile" of a public transit commute.

car2go is currently operational in 11 cities: Austin, Texas; Vancouver, British Columbia; San Diego, California; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; Ulm, Germany; Hamburg, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Vienna, Austria; Dusseldorf, Germany; and Berlin, Germany. In November 2011, car2go launched the world's largest all-electric vehicle carsharing network in the cities of San Diego, California, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, with the deployment of 300 car2go smart fortwo electric drive vehicles in each city. Currently, there are more than 100,000 ca car2go members worldwide.

The innovation and environmental sustainability of car2go have earned international acclaim: In February 2012, car2go was named the "Best Carshare of 2011" by the Vancouver Courier. In September 2010, car2go was recognized by the Austin Chamber of Commerce with the "2010 Greater Austin Business Award" for its positive impact on traffic in the city. The same month, car2go received the "Clean Tech Media Award" in the category of "Mobility" in Berlin. In May 2010, car2go was honored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with its prestigious "2010 EPA Clean Air Excellence Award." Further information on car2go is available at www.car2go.com and www.media.daimler.com/ms/car2go/e.

SOURCE car2go North America LLC