Selling Mobility instead of Cars: New Business Strategies of Automakers and the Impact on Private Vehicle Holding

This article considers the business strategy of an automaker entering the car‐sharing market. Given the high growth of the car‐sharing industry, this could become a new business segment and simultaneously have effects on branding. The considered case is a car‐sharing system called car2go, which was launched by Daimler in 2009. An empirical analysis based on primary data ( N = 1881) indicates that private vehicles are reduced as a consumer reaction. This constitutes a potential for environmental gains, as shared and consecutively used cars require less of production resources compared to a higher number of private cars being bought, driven and parked individually. Implications for public policy are that the allocation of public space to car‐sharing systems could result in a net gain of space in cities. Policy makers should also consider the dependency of car‐sharing schemes on municipal support regarding parking spaces and they should anticipate the upcoming electrification. This is the first study on a large‐scale car‐sharing system operated by an automaker using retrospective primary data. It contributes to the assessment of the current trend of car manufacturers launching car‐sharing schemes.