Why car sharing will have an impact
Slowly but surely we are moving from a car-centric to a user-centric mobility society. A society in which car-sharing and other shared mobility services still have to find their place. But all experts and consultancy firms are convinced that shared mobility will exponentially increase over the years and put traditional car leasing in a new business model.
A recent global study of McKinsey expects that at least one in ten new cars will be shared by no later than 2030, and by 2050 this may even increase to one in three cars.
Flexibility is needed
To make car-sharing really attractive and cost-efficient for both the car-sharing provider and the user, more flexibility is needed. First of all flexibility in the user-friendliness of car-sharing. As a customer you want your shared car to be as comfortable and easy to use as an owned car. This includes the ability to digitally select and reserve the shared car 24/7, wherever you are and according to your needs in terms of car model. It doesn’t make any sense to have only access to compact cars if you want to use it with a team of four colleagues.
Secondly, convenience with regard to pick-up and return of the shared car is a must. Ideally, it should be possible to leave the shared vehicle at or at least close to your destination. To enable such an approach, scale is required: the more people that are involved in car-sharing, the bigger the offering will be, the wider the geographic scope will become and the cheaper the car-sharing model will become. And finally, there needs to be convenience with regard to payment. The subscription-based or pay-per-use model should be automatic and digital and have clear distinction between private and business use.
Convergence of customer base
As car sharing is expected to grow in the future with a possible impact on the numbers of cars – recently PwC announced that in Europe there could be 80 million cars less by 2030 due to the increased and expected success of car sharing – the supplier industry is reshuffling its business cards. Most car manufacturers, rent a car specialists and lease companies already have car-sharing initiatives and confirm they are focusing more and more on additional services with regard to alternative mobility solutions, and connected fleet and mobility management via mobile applications.
Furthermore, the suppliers have understood that with the mobility boom there will be a convergence in customer groups : B2B, B2E and B2C will come together in the mobility environment, with the end-user, the individual as the most important decision maker and point of contact. The recent emergence of private lease – offered via car manufacturers, dealer networks and lease companies – in countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, UK and France is just one example. These privately leased cars can also be ideal to be part of car-sharing and ride-hailing schemes. And so while new and shared mobility might have an impact on the number of cars, it most certainly has an impact on the business model of the main industry suppliers, but the impact doesn’t need to be negative, quite the contrary.
The question is: are you ready for car-sharing and are you ready to let your employees share their cars ? Let us know.
