Providing innovative urban mobility solutions

Following the successful launch of the car2go mobility service in the German city of Hamburg, car2go GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, and Europcar, Lyon will become the first French city to enjoy the benefits of the unique car2go mobility programme.

Starting in 2012, car2go will provide Lyon residents with a fleet of 200 low emission, self-service smart fortwo cars which will be available for “on-demand” rentals throughout the city. Members can easily locate the closest available vehicle within a defined operating area of 44 square kilometres via the internet at www.car2go.com or with the help of a smartphone application. They can rent a vehicle spontaneously without the need to reserve it in advance. car2go allows its members to use the vehicle for as long as they like, without committing to a specific return time or location. Members pay only for the time they use the vehicle, with rental periods as short as one minute. More than 45,000 people in Germany and North America have already become members of car2go, the world’s first one-way carsharing service.

“ With Daimler’s car2go, Europcar is exploring new ways to combine urban mobility services with short term car rental services ”

“Innovative urban mobility solutions like car2go offer a way to help meet the challenges of urban congestion, reducing carbon emissions and improving quality of life,” said Gérard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon and President of ”‘Grand Lyon”. “Following the actions we initiated in 2005 with Velo’v, the first self-service bike sharing system, Lyon is innovating again with car2go, a new approach to car sharing which is complementary to other initiatives enabling our residents to move around town. Choosing Lyon, Europcar and Daimler strengthen the role of our city being one of the European leaders in terms of sustainable mobility.”
“This roll-out marks an important step of car2go into the European market and we are proud to name Lyon the first home of car2go in France,” said Robert Henrich, CEO of car2go GmbH.
“The overwhelming success in Germany and North America shows that car2go offers what people are searching for a very convenient and flexible mobility solution for short and spontaneous one-way trips.” car2go complements the existing transportation infrastructure in dense urban areas and aims to reduce the burden on city-center traffic, parking and the environment by using the smart fortwo “car2go edition”. The vehicle has been specially developed for the purpose of carsharing and is manufactured at the smart plant in Hambach, France.

Unlimited mobility

The idea of car2go was born at the Business Innovation Department of Daimler AG. Today, with a total of more than 45,000 members and 1,100 vehicles worldwide, car2go has proven success in four cities: Ulm and Hamburg in Germany, the Texan capital Austin in the US and Vancouver in Canada. Since the first launch in the southern German city of Ulm in March 2009, more than 900,000 trips have been made and approximately 9 million kilometres have been covered. Experience shows that customers highly value the possibility to do one-way trips.
Nine out of ten car2go rentals end at a different location than where they began, further showcasing that customers value the car2go model of point-to-point mobility.
After successfully launching car2go in Hamburg, car2go and Europcar will continue their strong partnership in Lyon.
“Together with car2go, we are providing innovative mobility solutions to serve urban communities and reach new categories of customers,” said Phillipe Guillemot, CEO of Europcar International. “For more than 80 years, Europcar has been building the expertise the undisputed European leader in car rental services. Through this partnership with Daimler, we are exploring new ways to combine urban mobility services with short term car rental services, to provide comprehensive mobility solutions to urban customers.

Pascal Klein

Europcar Group
Marketing Director

“ Saving our customers time means empowering them to do more. ”

Europcar Makes People’s Mobile Lives Easier

At Europcar, we believe that car hire should play a central and growing role in making people’s mobile lives easier. True to our vision, we strive to provide the highest level of convenience and the greatest possible value to our customers. For us, mobility isn’t just about getting from point
A to point B. It’s also about helping our customers make better use of their time. This is precisely what our new freeDeliver service enables.

Saving Our Customers Valuable Time

Time is the most precious commodity we have today. To spare our customers the time and effort of taking public transit in heavy traffic, we’ve devised freeDeliver to allow them to have their car delivered to their doorstep and collected at the end of the booking. Our business customers already know how convenient it is to hire a car on their own terms. Since June 2011, freeDeliver provides our leisure travellers in the United Kingdom with the same convenience, at no additional cost.

Valid for all bookings of two days or more, the service is provided entirely free of charge within a 15-mile radius of any of Europcar’s 200 locations. For a nominal fee, customers in France can opt for ‘Mon Voiturier par Europcar’ to enjoy the same benefits. Always endeavouring to enhance our proximity to customers and more efficiently serve their needs, we deliver hired cars to any address within an agreed one-hour time window. The added convenience of freeDeliver means no waiting around, no hassle and no stress, at no extra charge.

Meeting Changing Needs and Expectations

Our new service delivers real added value with no strings attached. Currently, no other car hire company offers delivery and collection. We hope to set the benchmark because we believe car hire should be as convenient as possible. Mobility is becoming an increasingly important part of people’s lives. By innovating to suit changes in lifestyle and customer expectations, we’ve succeeded in empowering the people who hire our cars to do more with their time.

Offering customized and innovative car rental services that make mobility easier for customers is just as important as devising competitive hire packages. For Europcar, smarter mobility contributes to sustainable mobility, by encouraging people to hire cars rather than owning one. It’s also our responsibility to have an environmentally friendly approach to business. This approach has already garnered awards for ‘The World’s Leading Green Transport Solution Company’ and ‘The World’s Leading Car Hire Company’ at the 2010 World Travel Awards.

With a longstanding local presence supported by 6,600 dedicated staff, Europcar facilitates the mobile lives of its 6 million customers around the world, through flexible, green car mobility solutions designed to meet their individual needs and expectations.

Mr Jehan de THÉ

Europcar International
Global Marketing Director

“ For Europcar, smart mobility is also sustainable mobility ”

Europcar combines smart with sustainable mobility

Europcar takes its mission of “facilitating the mobile lives of its customers around the world” very seriously. The car rental leader in Europe focuses on offering highly customized and innovative services while taking an environmentally friendly approach to its business. For Europcar, smart mobility is also sustainable mobility.

The company has been pioneering in this area since opening its first “environmental station” for electric vehicles in Paris in 1999. The first to offer hybrid vehicles in Europe, in 2000, Europcar was also the first company in Europe to have its “Green Charter” of environmental commitments certified by Bureau Veritas, in 2008. The Charter’s four “pillars” -- of having the “greenest” possible fleet, obtaining stringent ISO 14001 certification of its internal processes, promoting recycling in vehicle maintenance, and raising awareness among customers and employees -- serve as the company’s roadmap in managing its business.

Europcar’Green Fleet

The proportion of green vehicles, emitting low CO2 emissions, in the Europcar fleet is increasing, year on year. As a matter of fact, the company has focused in the recent years, on purchasing low-emission cars based on alternative hybrid or electric engines, including models that run on biofuels, super ethanol or natural gas. Europcar has partnerships with Nissan, Renault, Mercedes and PSA in “zero-emission” mobility and electric vehicles from these partners are planed to be delivered and first electric cars are already available in Portugal and France.

To highlight its green fleet and encourage consumers to choose low CO2 emission vehicles, Europcar offers its customers the possibility to choose their vehicle based on their CO2 emissions, as well as category and price. The rental’s level of CO2 emissions is visible on each invoice since 2009, to raise customers’ awareness of their environmental impact. Since 2010, Europcar even implemented a carbon offset facility function within the on-line reservation process, available thanks to the partnership with ClimateCare.

Smart mobility applications

Europcar has developed several mobile applications which allow customers to make or modify reservation, locate a check-out station: Iphone, Samsung Wave and Nokia apps, aiming at simplifying the reservation process, were designed with customers’ mobile lives and the environment in mind.

And lastly, as a result of Europcar placing customers’ mobility at the center of its strategy, Europcar launched in April a smart & innovative service for urban mobility in partnership with Daimler-Benz in Hamburg, Germany. Known as car2go, the service lets drivers pick up and drop off a vehicle anywhere in the city’s 25-square-mile central area without a prior reservation. This new life-style service, complementary to car rental already started with 300 smart fortwo Vehicles and will be further expand in other major cities.

Europcar’s efforts in smart and sustainable mobility are paying off: the company was elected “The World’s Leading Green Transport Solution Company” and “The World’s Leading Car Hire Company” at the World Travel Awards in 2010.