Selling Mobility instead of Cars: New Business Strategies of Automakers and the Impact on Private Vehicle Holding

Abstract

This article considers the business strategy of an automaker entering the car‐sharing market. Given the high growth of the car‐sharing industry, this could become a new business segment and simultaneously have effects on branding. The considered case is a car‐sharing system called car2go, which was launched by Daimler in 2009. An empirical analysis based on primary data (N = 1881) indicates that private vehicles are reduced as a consumer reaction. This constitutes a potential for environmental gains, as shared and consecutively used cars require less of production resources compared to a higher number of private cars being bought, driven and parked individually. Implications for public policy are that the allocation of public space to car‐sharing systems could result in a net gain of space in cities. Policy makers should also consider the dependency of car‐sharing schemes on municipal support regarding parking spaces and they should anticipate the upcoming electrification. This is the first study on a large‐scale car‐sharing system operated by an automaker using retrospective primary data. It contributes to the assessment of the current trend of car manufacturers launching car‐sharing schemes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Understanding car sharing preferences and mode substitution patterns: A stated preference experiment

“…As suggested in previous studies (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), we find that males are more likely to select car sharing compared to females. Age and income were initially included in the model and tested with different functional forms but were not found to contribute significantly.…”

“…A decrease of 10% for the car sharing price would imply a decrease in the probability of choosing public transport of 2.2%, of choosing bike of 1% and 0.75% of choosing car. Thus, our research supports the recent findings that freefloating car sharing is a substitute for some public transport trips (Becker et al, 2017;Firnkorn and Müller, 2012). The elasticities show that for the car sharing alternative the sensitivity with respect to cost is higher when compared to that of time.…”

“…The socio-economic profile of car sharing members is documented by many researchers. Essentially, studies agree that members are generally male, younger than the age of 35 (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), reside in urban areas (Prieto et al, 2017), have high education levels (Le Vine et al, 2014) and high incomes (Kopp et al, 2015). In the first part of this paper, we document the car sharing members profile and discuss if the profile of members in Denmark corresponds with the previous findings from a variety of cities in North America and Europe.…”

Understanding car sharing preferences and mode substitution patterns: A stated preference experiment

“…As suggested in previous studies (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), we find that males are more likely to select car sharing compared to females. Age and income were initially included in the model and tested with different functional forms but were not found to contribute significantly.…”

“…A decrease of 10% for the car sharing price would imply a decrease in the probability of choosing public transport of 2.2%, of choosing bike of 1% and 0.75% of choosing car. Thus, our research supports the recent findings that freefloating car sharing is a substitute for some public transport trips (Becker et al, 2017;Firnkorn and Müller, 2012). The elasticities show that for the car sharing alternative the sensitivity with respect to cost is higher when compared to that of time.…”

“…The socio-economic profile of car sharing members is documented by many researchers. Essentially, studies agree that members are generally male, younger than the age of 35 (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), reside in urban areas (Prieto et al, 2017), have high education levels (Le Vine et al, 2014) and high incomes (Kopp et al, 2015). In the first part of this paper, we document the car sharing members profile and discuss if the profile of members in Denmark corresponds with the previous findings from a variety of cities in North America and Europe.…”

Review of sustainable service-based business models in the Chinese truck sector

“…However, cases presented in these papers do not fulfil all criteria of a result-oriented PSS as defined by Tukker (2004). In the car sector, Edinburgh CityCarClub (Catulli, 2012;Williams, 2007) or Daimler Car2Go system (Firnkorn & Müller, 2012) are two examples of pay per unit result-oriented PSS targeting individual…”

“…Some examples of automotive result-oriented PSS exist and we could classify eight papers in this category (Catulli, 2012;Williams, 2007;Firnkorn & Müller, 2012;Baines et al, 2009Baines et al, , 2011. However, cases presented in these papers do not fulfil all criteria of a result-oriented PSS as defined by Tukker (2004).…”

Understanding car sharing preferences and mode substitution patterns: A stated preference experiment

“…As suggested in previous studies (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), we find that males are more likely to select car sharing compared to females. Age and income were initially included in the model and tested with different functional forms but were not found to contribute significantly.…”

“…A decrease of 10% for the car sharing price would imply a decrease in the probability of choosing public transport of 2.2%, of choosing bike of 1% and 0.75% of choosing car. Thus, our research supports the recent findings that freefloating car sharing is a substitute for some public transport trips (Becker et al, 2017;Firnkorn and Müller, 2012). The elasticities show that for the car sharing alternative the sensitivity with respect to cost is higher when compared to that of time.…”

“…The socio-economic profile of car sharing members is documented by many researchers. Essentially, studies agree that members are generally male, younger than the age of 35 (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), reside in urban areas (Prieto et al, 2017), have high education levels (Le Vine et al, 2014) and high incomes (Kopp et al, 2015). In the first part of this paper, we document the car sharing members profile and discuss if the profile of members in Denmark corresponds with the previous findings from a variety of cities in North America and Europe.…”

Review of sustainable service-based business models in the Chinese truck sector

“…However, cases presented in these papers do not fulfil all criteria of a result-oriented PSS as defined by Tukker (2004). In the car sector, Edinburgh CityCarClub (Catulli, 2012;Williams, 2007) or Daimler Car2Go system (Firnkorn & Müller, 2012) are two examples of pay per unit result-oriented PSS targeting individual…”

“…Some examples of automotive result-oriented PSS exist and we could classify eight papers in this category (Catulli, 2012;Williams, 2007;Firnkorn & Müller, 2012;Baines et al, 2009Baines et al, , 2011. However, cases presented in these papers do not fulfil all criteria of a result-oriented PSS as defined by Tukker (2004).…”

Understanding car sharing preferences and mode substitution patterns: A stated preference experiment

“…As suggested in previous studies (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), we find that males are more likely to select car sharing compared to females. Age and income were initially included in the model and tested with different functional forms but were not found to contribute significantly.…”

“…A decrease of 10% for the car sharing price would imply a decrease in the probability of choosing public transport of 2.2%, of choosing bike of 1% and 0.75% of choosing car. Thus, our research supports the recent findings that freefloating car sharing is a substitute for some public transport trips (Becker et al, 2017;Firnkorn and Müller, 2012). The elasticities show that for the car sharing alternative the sensitivity with respect to cost is higher when compared to that of time.…”

“…The socio-economic profile of car sharing members is documented by many researchers. Essentially, studies agree that members are generally male, younger than the age of 35 (Firnkorn and Müller, 2012), reside in urban areas (Prieto et al, 2017), have high education levels (Le Vine et al, 2014) and high incomes (Kopp et al, 2015). In the first part of this paper, we document the car sharing members profile and discuss if the profile of members in Denmark corresponds with the previous findings from a variety of cities in North America and Europe.…”

Review of sustainable service-based business models in the Chinese truck sector

“…However, cases presented in these papers do not fulfil all criteria of a result-oriented PSS as defined by Tukker (2004). In the car sector, Edinburgh CityCarClub (Catulli, 2012;Williams, 2007) or Daimler Car2Go system (Firnkorn & Müller, 2012) are two examples of pay per unit result-oriented PSS targeting individual…”

“…Some examples of automotive result-oriented PSS exist and we could classify eight papers in this category (Catulli, 2012;Williams, 2007;Firnkorn & Müller, 2012;Baines et al, 2009Baines et al, , 2011. However, cases presented in these papers do not fulfil all criteria of a result-oriented PSS as defined by Tukker (2004).…”