As Munich’s BMW reported yesterday, July 6, 2016 as it celebrated its fifth anniversary, the Bavarian companies DriveNow is extending its service to Brussels. The Belgian capital is the tenth European city where the premium car sharing joint venture from BMW Group and Sixt SE will operate. Car sharing without a branch office has been allowed in Brussels since June and the service will offer a range of BMW and MINI models on the proven free-floating car sharing concept.
Following its launch in Munich in June 2011, DriveNow has constantly expanded its mobility services in Europe and now has more than 600,000 customers. In addition it’s five German locations (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Düsseldorf and Cologne), DriveNow services are also available in London, Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm and – as of this month – in Brussels. In Germany, DriveNow records an average of over half a million journeys every month. An average journey is between 8 and 15 kilometres and lasts 20 to 40 minutes.
Electric vehicles were first introduced into the DriveNow fleet in summer 2013 and today, the joint venture offers electric BMW i3 vehicles in almost all of its cities. Twenty percent of the entire fleet is electrically powered and over 150,000 customers had their first electric driving experience thanks to DriveNow, with the company’s electric vehicles having covered more than three million kilometres in total.
The BMW Group believes that car sharing using electric vehicles is a vital step in providing customers with easy access to electric mobility, reducing emissions in cities and helping to attain a higher quality of life in an urban environment. With ventures such as DriveNow, ParkNow or ChargeNow, the BMW Group was quick to focus on the increasing significance of digital services, identifying them as an important factor for future success.
BMW celebrates its 100 anniversary this year. The central celebration will be the BMW Festival and BMW Festival Night from 9 to 11 September 2016, which will be held in the Munich Olympic Park, near to the birthplace of the company. Venues will include the Olympic Stadium, its parking area and Olympic Hall as well as BMW Welt and the BMW Museum. The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Eva Lind, Peter Kraus, Lena, Simply Red and Sunrise Avenue are set to perform live at two consecutive nights as part of the Festival Night. The Festival takes place during the weekend preceding this year’s Oktoberfest opening.
