The new concept in car rental is to make the cars available by the minute. Car2go and Smartfortwos are already in the market and have received appreciable response. In fact Smartfortwos has introduced some high tech tracking apps to help you find them. But you will always end up finding smaller and cheaper cars as they have not invested in bigger luxury cars. BMW has stepped into that niche to provide bigger cars on similar pattern of rent.
The company has launched its own car sharing service. The service called DriveNow is aimed at those who would prefer to drive a bigger and better car. The company has billed its service as premium though there high end models would not be available through this service. BMW’s Minis and 1 Series are definitely premium compared to most of the regular cars. Their upcoming model i3 will also qualify to join the service at some future date.
The service will be launched in the Munich area with a fleet of 300 cars. The service will be expanded in phases in other cities in Germany first and then move to other countries. The target BMW has in mind is to have one million members worldwide by 2020. The cost of renting a car is 29 cents per minute or about $21 per hour. Each car in the fleet will have a dash mounted Dell Streak. RFID equipped membership card will be required to unlock the car doors. BMW is investing big on the project as they are confident about its future.
Via: engadget
