Daimler’s car sharing business unit,Car2Go is pulling out from the United Kingdom after the business failed to work as expected in London. Car2Go said on its Web site that after listening closely to customer feedback and considering the country’s strong culture and tradition of private vehicle ownership, it is withdrawing from the UK.
Car2Go has been in London since December 2012 and in Birmingham since last year. The car-sharing business, had hoped to set up a network of “free-floating” parking spaces across London, where customers could just pick up and drop off cars.
However, Car2Go said that coordinating 32 separate authorities across different boroughs were more difficult than expected. A spokesman said that Car2Go had aimed to get over 10,000 customers, but failed.
This meant that the company failed to achieve the five to eight daily bookings needed to make the business sustainable in the UK. Its failure in the UK was contrasted by its success in Italy, where it has around 110,000 users in Rome and Milan.
The company also has around 70,000 clients in seven cities in Germany like Berlin and Hamburg. Its global operations have reached 25 cities and boast of 750,000 registered users.
