car2go North America, LLC, a subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, announced today it will launch in two new cities, from coast to coast in March 2012. The car2go carsharing service will be available in Washington, D.C. beginning March 24 and in Portland, Oregon beginning March 31.
“car2go is an integral part of Daimler's overall mobility service strategy,” said Bodo Uebber, member of the Board of Management at Daimler AG and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler Financial Services, the division of Daimler that has recently assumed responsibility for car2go. “And the success speaks for itself: Starting with an innovative idea three years ago, car2go today is a benchmark mobility business that expands rapidly.”
“Already more than 70,000 people worldwide are car2go members, using our smart urban transportation each and every day,” Uebber went on to say. “We will continue this success story by bringing car2go to further cities worldwide step by step,” said Klaus Entenmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Financial Services.
The car2go program will provide the people who live, work and visit Washington D.C. and Portland with a smart transportation solution that is designed for rapidly growing urban areas. “In each car2go city, we provide a carsharing service that helps ease congestion, reduce emissions and provide a viable automobility solution that complements public transportation,” said Nicholas Cole, President & CEO of car2go North America. “The people who live, work and visit the vibrant cities of Washington D.C. and Portland already embrace a variety of transportation options, and we are excited to bring them the unsurpassed convenience and flexibility of the car2go way of carsharing.”
As the world’s first-free floating carsharing service, car2go provides a new way of carsharing that is unique, particularly in these three areas:
- BY THE MINUTE: Members pay only for the time they use the car, by the minute, with discounted rates for hourly and daily use. There is no minimum amount of time that a car can be used - whether a member needs a car for 10 minutes or an entire day - members simply get in and drive, for as long as they want without a mandatory return time. Parking, fuel, maintenance and insurance are included at no additional cost, and there are no annual or monthly fees.
- ON DEMAND: Members can use the first available car2go they find, via a smart phone app, the car2go vehicle finder at car2go.com, by calling the customer call center, or by simply locating an available car2go on the street. There is no need to make a reservation in advance because members have unrestricted and unlimited access to car2go vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- FREE FLOATING: Members can pick up and drop off any car2go anywhere within the car2go Home Area - in any legal on-street parking space, including metered, nonmetered and residential neighborhoods parking spaces. Members do not need to drive the car back to its original location or commit to a predetermined amount of time. They can simply drive the car for as long as they need it, park the car at their individual destination, end the rental by swiping the card on the windshield reader, and instantly the car becomes available for the next member to use.
At the end of March, car2go will begin to phase-in more than 200 smart fortwo cars in each of the two cities, with the official launch dates set for March 24 in Washington D.C. and March 31 in Portland, Oregon.
Registration for both cities opens today, and for a limited time, car2go is offering new members in Washington D.C. and Portland free registration and 30 free minutes of driving time.
For more information about the special promotions, please visit WashingtonDC.car2go.com and Portland.car2go.com . Additional information about car2go can be found at www.car2go.com .
Credits: Daimler AG
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
Daimler and Nissan will produce Mercedes-Benz 4-cylinder gasoline engines together at Nissan’s powertrain assembly plant in Decherd, Tennessee. Production will begin in 2014, with installed capacity of 250,000 units per year once full ramp–up is achieved. The Decherd facility will produce engines for Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti models.
“This is the newest milestone in our pragmatic collaboration and our most significant project outside of Europe so far,” said Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. “Localized capacity reduces exposure to foreign exchange rates while rapidly enabling a good business development in North America – a win-win for the Alliance and Daimler.”
The collaboration marks the first production of Mercedes-Benz engines in the North America Free Trade region. The Tennessee plant’s strategic location and logistics links ensure a direct supply of engines starting in 2014 for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, built at Daimler’s vehicle plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“In the context of our Mercedes-Benz 2020 growth strategy, we have decided that we will expand the production capacities required for this close to the customers. Through the strategic extension of our cooperation with Renault-Nissan we can realize near-market engine production in the NAFTA region on attractive economic terms and make optimum use of synergies arising from the cooperation.” Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Daimler Board of Management and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said. “Thus we are systematically broadening our manufacturing footprint in this important growth market.”
Nissan began powertrain assembly in Decherd in 1997. Today it manufactures 4-, 6- and 8-cylinder engines for the complete lineup of U.S.-produced Nissan and Infiniti vehicles. The plant also houses crankshaft forging and cylinder block casting operations. In 2011, Decherd produced more than 580,000 engines on a covered area of more than 1.2 million square feet (111,000 square meters).
Project portfolio expands
Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance launched their strategic collaboration in April 2010, including an equity exchange that gives the Renault-Nissan Alliance a 3.1 percent stake in Daimler and Daimler a combined 3.1 percent interest in Renault and Nissan.
The collaboration began with three project pillars:
- Joint smart/Twingo architecture: The project is on track for launch in the early first quarter of 2014. Two-seater smart vehicles will be produced at Daimler’s plant in Hambach, France, and four-seater smart and Renault production are slated for Renault’s plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia.
- All-new entry-level city van project for Mercedes-Benz: The project is on schedule with expected launch in late 2012.
- Powertrain cross-supply: The Alliance is supplying Daimler with compact three-cylinder gasoline engines to be used in smart and Twingo vehicles and four-cylinder diesel engines to be used in the jointly developed light commercial vehicle and in Mercedes-Benz’s next generation of premium compact cars. Daimler will supply Nissan and Infiniti with four- and six-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines from the current and future engine portfolio as well as with automatic transmissions.
Since its founding in April 2010, the collaboration has been gradually expanded. In addition to the announcement this week about North American engine production, the companies had decided earlier to partner on:
- Platform sharing: Infiniti plans to base a premium compact vehicle on the Mercedes compact-car architecture, starting in 2014.
- Zero-emission vehicles: Daimler will provide batteries from its production facility in Kamenz, Germany, and Renault-Nissan will provide electric motors for the use in electric vehicles (smart and Twingo ZE). First releases will occur in 2014.
Credits: Daimler AG
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
