Daimler AG’s Car2Go car-sharing service just became more luxurious.
Car2Go, one of the world’s largest car-sharing services, has added the 2017 Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA to its North American fleet, starting Monday in Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and the Washington, D.C., area. In Canada, Car2Go members in Toronto and Vancouver will be able to use CLAs and GLAs starting in early February.
“At Mercedes-Benz we see the four key pillars for future mobility as connectivity, autonomous driving, car sharing and electrification,” said Dieter Zetsche, Daimler CEO, in a statement. “Today we take another step toward that future by adding the new Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA to Car2Go’s North American fleet.”
Car2Go did not have an exact number of Mercedes-Benz vehicles that will be added to the fleet, but Mike Silverman, a Car2Go spokesman, noted the number will be in “the thousands” by the end of 2017 as it updates its fleet across its North American locations.
In fact, the majority of Car2Go’s North American fleet will be made up of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles by year end, Silverman added.
Silverman noted that when Car2Go first started operations in the U.S. in 2009, its fleet was exclusively Smart ForTwo vehicles.
Now, Car2Go is in the process of retiring older-generation Smart vehicles and will replace them with either a CLA, GLA or a current generation Smart ForTwo, Silverman said.
Unlike the Smart ForTwos in the fleet, which feature an easy to identify blue and white paint scheme, the Mercedes-Benz Car2Go vehicles will either be black, white or silver.
All Car2Go GLAs will feature all-wheel-drive, while all CLAs in Toronto and Vancouver will have awd.
Car2Go’s introduction of CLAs and GLAs follows a year-long pilot program in which the company had 25 Mercedes-Benz B-class vehicles available in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver for use in each city.
The one-way car sharing company doesn’t use fixed rental stations or require reservations, the company said. Members use an app to locate, unlock, drive and park a Car2Go vehicle in any legal parking space within a city’s “Home Area.”
Car2Go covers fuel, parking, vehicle maintenance and insurance.
Silverman said that Car2Go will work with the Mercedes’ dealership network when servicing vehicles.
Currently, Car2Go members pay 41 cents per minute, $14.99 per hour or $84.99 per day to use a vehicle.
Silverman did note that the pricing for the CLAs and GLAs will be a few cents more per minute. However, in some markets, Silverman said, the price per minute for CLAs and GLAs could be the same during a promotion that the company is running.
Car2Go also noted that U.S. members looking to buy or lease a new Smart ForTwo or Mercedes-Benz vehicle, excluding the SLS AMG and AMG GT class, are eligible for a discount, which ranges from $500 to $4,500 depending on model and dealership participation, the company said.
The car-sharing service was initially piloted in Ulm, Germany in 2008 by Daimler. The company says it has 2.2 million members across the globe which includes parts of Europe and Chongqing, China, in addition to the U.S. and Canada.
