[booker]

TTAC brought out a speculation piece on the future of Car2Go. Interestingly C2G is actually a Daimler owned company.

Could be interesting...

I envision this being a part of a new two-tiered approach that maintains the standard Car2Go rates via the Smart ForTwo, but would introduce a new premium option featuring the CLA and GLA. Seeing that all the logistics, business operations, city agreements and branding has already been established the only cost would be the vehicles themselves, the retrofitting of Car2Go use-technology and a small amount of marketing for the new premium service.

Could Daimler make premium car sharing a nationwide reality? | The Truth About Cars

 

[BenzFan]

Premium car sharing is a good idea.
I can actually see this going even further up segment with more cars. Maybe in a couple more years (or less or more) we could see C-Class, E-Class and even the S-Class part of a car sharing service.

 

[AMG4Matic]

this is going to mean lots of used CLA and GLAs in 4 years that are beaten to death. depreciation might take a hit being a fleet car.

 

[mr.smith]

IT would be nice for people to have the option of a larger vehicle instead of the smart ForTwo only. If youare trying to transport stuff, or more than two people the smart ForTwo just doesn't work.

The weird thing is that the CLA isn't particularly spacious. I'm not sure people would care so much about the extra luxury, but they would want the extra space, so maybe the GLA would be a better choice for the program.

 

[sleepyhead]

I'm not sure what they mean by "nationwide" but the big problem I see with it is that most US cities are so sprawled to hell and back and have such inadequate public transportation networks that not many people get by without a car daily. I can see this working in some of the more dense and "zoned" cities like New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Washington. But a city like Houston, Chicago, or Atlanta it wouldn't work outside a very narrow downtown strip.

I do understand the idea of small cars though. You're going to have trouble parking a CLA in some of those downtowns, much less a (relatively) large vehicle like a GLA. Parallel parking is hard enough for commuters. Imagine a "renter" driver. Would you park your car near them? Most of the demographic is more for people who need to whiz around a downtown quickly anyways. So a SUV would be pointless. And if you need to go out of town to a Walmart or Home Depot and buy something big, you're better off renting a day from Hertz or U-Haul. Car2Go type companies are only worth it for very short distances and short times.

And given how nasty a lot of people leave their car and all the stuff they leave inside, I wouldn't want to share. I do not want to be called by the co-owner every other time I'm halfway in a trip asking to drop by their place so they can get their bag they forgot for the 100th time.

 

[booker]

I'm not sure what they mean by "nationwide" but the big problem I see with it is that most US cities are so sprawled to hell and back and have such inadequate public transportation networks that not many people get by without a car daily. I can see this working in some of the more dense and "zoned" cities like New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Washington. But a city like Houston, Chicago, or Atlanta it wouldn't work outside a very narrow downtown strip.

I do understand the idea of small cars though. You're going to have trouble parking a CLA in some of those downtowns, much less a (relatively) large vehicle like a GLA. Parallel parking is hard enough for commuters. Imagine a "renter" driver. Would you park your car near them? Most of the demographic is more for people who need to whiz around a downtown quickly anyways. So a SUV would be pointless. And if you need to go out of town to a Walmart or Home Depot and buy something big, you're better off renting a day from Hertz or U-Haul. Car2Go type companies are only worth it for very short distances and short times.

And given how nasty a lot of people leave their car and all the stuff they leave inside, I wouldn't want to share. I do not want to be called by the co-owner every other time I'm halfway in a trip asking to drop by their place so they can get their bag they forgot for the 100th time.

its not so much co owning as in leasing by minute... Most of those points are extremely valid BTW.