BMW will launch a four-wheeled rival to the ‘Boris Bike’, CAR can reveal, when its grab-and-go car hire scheme launches in London by early 2015.
DriveNow, BMW’s joint venture with rental company Sixt, will deploy cars at strategic points on the capital’s streets.
How BMW’s DriveNow scheme will work in London
The electric i3 city car will be the star of the London initiative, bulked out by Mini and 1-series cars which underpin similar operations in five German cities which pioneered DriveNow.
The scheme is part of BMW’s reimagination of itself as a mobility services provider, happy to hire cars as well as sell them. In Germany, DriveNow members pay a €29 registration fee, then they can rent cars off the street paying fees a little cheaper than hiring a London taxi. Cars are located, reserved and unlocked with a smartphone app, free to tank up (with a special refueling card) which qualifies the driver for a free mileage bonus, and with an amnesty from the capital’s highly motivated parking wardens and its congestion charge. Billing is automated.