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BMW's ReachNow Car Sharing Service Launches in Seattle, Daimler's Territory

There's a turf war brewing in Seattle now that BMW's ReachNow car sharing service is entering the market. It's coming into hostile territory, since Daimler's Car2Go has been there since 2012.
ReachNow fleet 1 photo
Photo: ReachNow
Daimler's subsidiary even took the time to "welcome" the new competitor (which it fondly refers to as a "follower") by issuing a short statement. You can read it just below this paragraph, but once you do, you'll come to the same conclusion: Car2Go is acting like the more experienced player on the market and foresees a very difficult future for the new enterprise. Of course, all of it is sugarcoated in the old "there's always room for more" and "it's all good because ultimately it's the Seattle residents who win" discourse.

"As the sharing economy goes mainstream, we expect followers to see what we saw when we launched here in 2012. Seattle is a great city for carsharing, and we've cultivated a 75,000 strong membership here. One-way carsharing is a complex business to operate, and any new competitor will have a significant learning curve to contend with. Having said that, we believe the more mass transit, carsharing and ridesharing options people have to get around, the better because services like car2go alleviate traffic and parking congestion and improves quality of life."

The two services share some similarities, but it's what sets them apart that might have the Car2Go management a little worried. They both allow one-way trips within a certain area and charge the user by the minute, but while Daimler only offers the small smart fortwo vehicles, BMW's ReachNow will allow a choice between the i3 EV, the 328xi sedan and MINI Cooper models. That means a much broader range of vehicles to suit a much broader range of activities.

ReachNow will start with 370 cars in Seattle that will eventually charge 49 cents per minute of use (they are currently discounted to 41 cents, just like Car2Go). When the car is parked, though, it will only cost the client 30 cents per minute. For a longer time usage, there are certain packages that offer great value: $50 for three hours, $80 for 12 hours and $110 for 24 hours.

Seattle is the first US city where ReachNow is opening its business, but the company says others will follow. In total, it aims to cover ten of the major cities in the United States of America, even though they haven't been named yet.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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