Daimler, BMW aim to create 'global player' with car-sharing joint venture

BERLIN - Daimler and BMW have announced ambitious plans on Thursday to create a "global player" in the growing car-sharing market with their recently-established joint venture in the industry.

"We want to grow significantly and are capable of completing larger acquisitions", Daimler chief financial officer (CFO) Bodo Uebber told press. However, a public listing of the entity resulting from the merger of the two German carmakers' car-sharing subsidiaries DriveNow and Car2Go was currently not envisioned.

Following lengthy and secretive negotiations, Daimler and BMW have agreed to overcome their long-standing commercial rivalry and establish a new shared car-sharing company split evenly between the luxury automotive producers. The new firm is likely to be headquartered in Germany according to Uebber.

According to information provided by the respective companies, DriveNow has one million customers in Europe while Car2Go counted three million users of its regional services. In combination with autonomous driving technologies, car-sharing services are considered to be a significant growth market which the German automotive industry hopes to benefit from in the future.