Car manufacturers enter playing field
Large automakers and car-rental companies, such as General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR), have entered the game and are starting to pay attention to an industry that could prove to be disruptive. In 2011, GM’s investment arm, GM Ventures, was one of several investors who invested $13 million in RelayRides. In return, RelayRides has been given easy access to GM’s Onstar navigation system and Onstar users also have a faster sign-up process for the rental service. RelayRides’ vehicles equipped with Onstar also have the option of having the vehicles locked or unlocked using an app rather than a key. GM hopes these perks will encourage car owners to sign up for their Onstar service, which could bring additional revenue of $715 a month to the car maker.
According to the Economist, Avis purchased ZipCar in January 2013 for $491 million. ZipCar rents cars by the hour, maintains its own fleet of vehicles and also has a $14 million investment in Wheelz, a peer-to-peer car rental service. With the ZipCar purchase, Avis also gained a stake in the Wheelz rental service.
Across the pond, Fast Company reports that German car maker Daimler AG (USA) (PINK:DDAIF) has a Car2Go, a service very similar to ZipCar’s. The service is currently operating in two pilot cities, Ulm, Germany and Austin, Texas. It allows anyone walking down a street to locate a Smart car via app, access the vehicle via a windshield car reader and PIN, drive it to a local area, and leave it there for the next user. Daimler has also started developing apps for vehicles made by other car manufacturers; for example, its Car2Gether app matches car drivers with riders through social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.