MINI – the British car manufacturer has joined the pack of those manufacturers who are rushing to solve the customers’ problem of abandoning car ownership on the grounds of car sharing. This procedure is a scheme, which offers buyers the chance to negate the purchasing price by renting their vehicles.
Popular car manufacturers from across the globe are looking to start adopting techniques to sway drivers from adopting the ease of car sharing. Toyota has already adopted a scheme of renting cars from the dealerships itself. Ford had launched the Ford2Go car sharing in Germany while there is Opel of General Motors has a scheme named CarUnity.
Mini has reported that it will expand BMW’s current DriveNow car sharing scheme, which will allow Mini owners to utilise a smartphone application for third party drivers to contribute to the company proceedings undertaken by the owner of the car. This new trend has already taken a crucial hit at the economy standards of car sales. According to a recent survey by AlixPartners of the US metropolitan markets of car-sharing, one car-sharing vehicle had the capacity of displacing purchase plans of 32 vehicles. Mini concept is however, targeted to the cream of both the worlds.
Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW board member behind the brand of Mini said, “The idea behind (accommodation website) Airbnb, to offer up private property for wider usage, was the inspiration behind the idea of offering a car-sharing option for Mini.” BMW launched the DriveNow service right in 2001 and has over 450000 users through the profit-making concern.
