Earlier this year the BMW Group and Daimler AG announced they are planning to launch a joint mobility services company in the EU. The details of this interesting move would be revealed later on and today the two companies announced that their headquarters will be located in Berlin. The location was basically chosen because it’s not either Munich, where BMW’s HQ is located, or Stuttgart where Daimler has its own HQ as well.
Together, the BMW Group and Daimler AG aim to grow this new business model sustainably to enable rapid global scaling of services. The two companies took a further step towards forming their joint venture by officially filing the transaction with the European Commission. Both automotive manufacturers aim to shape the mobility of the future, by offering customers a new, sustainable urban mobility alternative.
In filing the application with the European Union, the partners are now addressing the joint venture’s most important market. The transaction has already been filed with the responsible authorities in a number of different countries and, in some cases, has already been approved. By combining their respective businesses, the two partners are underlining their ambitions in this future market. The BMW Group and Daimler AG intend to offer their customers a holistic ecosystem of intelligent, seamlessly connected mobility services, available at the tap of a finger.
The combined efforts cover on-demand mobility needs of people around the world in the areas of CarSharing (via Car2Go and DriveNow), Ride-Hailing (via mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi and Beat), Parking (with ParkNow and Parkmobile Group/Parkmobile LLC), Charging (ChargeNow and Digital Charging Solutions) and Multimodality (with moovel and ReachNow). The two companies will each hold a 50-percent stake in the joint venture, but will remain competitors in their respective core businesses.
“The future of mobility is being shaped in major cities like Berlin. With the ecosystem we are planning, we will create solutions for tomorrow’s urban mobility: intelligent, seamlessly connected and available at the tap of a finger. We believe this will improve quality of life in major cities,” explained Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “Our vision is to create a major global player for seamless and intelligent connected mobility services together. As a hub for creativity and innovation, Berlin is exactly the right location for our plans,” according to Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
