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 Ford's finance arm is launching pilot car-sharing programs with
Getaround in the United States and easyCar Club in London, Ford
Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields said Tuesday evening. The
automaker last month announced a similar on-demand pilot called
GoDrive in London.
Ford is entering the car-sharing field more than three years after
U.S. competitor General Motors Co <GM.N> announced a partnership
with San Francisco-based RelayRides.
Like Getaround and easyCar Club, RelayRides connects vehicle owners
with other consumers looking for short-term rentals in what is
called peer-to-peer sharing. Individuals typically connect via
mobile apps on smartphones.
Several European automakers operate or have an interest in
car-sharing firms, including Daimler AG's car2go, BMW AG's
DriveNow and Volkswagen AG's Quicar and Greenwheels.
Founded in 2008, Car2go, with more than 1 million members worldwide,
also has operations in several U.S. cities.
Unlike peer-to-peer sharing services, the automakers' ventures
maintain their own on-demand rental fleets, as does Zipcar, a U.S.
ride-sharing company that was acquired in 2013 by rental-car company
Avis Budget Group Inc.
Ford's new pilot programs with Getaround and easyCar Club will
enable owners of vehicles financed by Ford Motor Credit Co to rent
their cars to prescreened clients. The U.S. pilot is being launched
in three California cities - San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley -
as well as Chicago, Washington and Portland.
RelayRides, founded in 2010, and Getaround, founded in 2009, are
startups funded largely with venture capital and have yet to go
public.
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GM is an investor in RelayRides through its venture capital arm GM
Ventures. Google Ventures is another investor, as is Detroit-based
Fontinalis Partners. Ford Motor Chairman Bill Ford is a partner in
Fontinalis.
Getaround so far has limited its activities to a handful of U.S.
cities, including San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, Portland and
Chicago.
Venture investors in Getaround include Cox Automotive, Yahoo CEO
Marissa Mayer and actor Ashton Kutcher. Another investor is Barney
Pell, founder and chairman of LocoMobi, a "smart parking" startup
also funded by Fontinalis.
The peer-to-peer car sharing services are different from
ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, which function more as
alternatives to taxis. Fontinalis is an investor in Lyft, while
Kutcher is an investor in Uber.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert and Julia Love in San Francisco; Editing
by Lisa Shumaker)
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