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 Automakers now recognize they may turn ride-hailing services and car
sharing companies into steady customers for all sorts of vehicles,
particularly hybrid and electric cars, industry executives and
analysts say.
Tie-ups with carpooling services or short-term rental companies help
automakers expose consumers to brands they might otherwise ignore.
Technology companies offer access to troves of consumer data, and
sophisticated ways to analyze them.
From the automakers, the Silicon Valley mobility companies obtain
fresh capital, access to auto industry engineers who know how cars
work and discounts on vehicles for their drivers.
In the latest tie-up between an automaker and a transportation
technology startup, German luxury car maker BMW AG said on Wednesday
its BMW iVentures venture capital arm has invested an undisclosed
amount in California-based Scoop Technologies, which offers a
smartphone-powered carpooling service called Scoop.
On Tuesday, Toyota Motor Corp, the world's No. 1 automaker by
vehicle sales, said it was investing an undisclosed amount of money
in Uber. Germany's Volkswagen AG <VOWG_p.DE> said on the same day it
would invest $300 million in Gett, a smaller ride-hailing company.
Earlier this year, General Motors Co acquired a stake in Uber rival
Lyft, and the Detroit automaker is launching its own car-sharing and
mobility ventures under the Maven brand. Ford Motor Co, Daimler AG
and other major automakers have unveiled efforts to embrace
ride-hailing and car-sharing services.
Automakers "want to make sure they are in the game," as more
consumers use ride sharing or carpooling, said Mark Short, an Ernst
and Young partner who advises automakers on transactions. "To be in
the game, you have to make investments in these companies."
NEW SALES CHANNEL
In the case of Uber and Toyota, both could benefit from an alliance.
Uber "actually knows very little from its own experience about cars
- how they're made, how they work," said Jan Dawson, technology
analyst with Jackdaw Research. Uber has said it wants to develop
self-driving cars - as does Toyota - and the two indicated they will
collaborate on research.
Toyota said it expects to offer new ways for Uber drivers to buy
Toyota cars, and could market Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles to
Uber in bulk fleet sales. Details of these programs have yet to be
decided, a Toyota spokesman said on Wednesday.
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Toyota and some rival automakers currently offer discounts to drivers for Uber
and its ride-hailing rival, Lyft. An Uber driver who wants to buy a Toyota Prius,
for example, could receive a $750 discount. The Uber discount for a Ford Focus
is $2,100, according to information on Uber's website.
Uber said on Wednesday discounts from various automakers have saved its drivers
more than $20 million on vehicle purchases globally as of the end of last year.
As of last December, more than 50,000 people around the world had used its car
discount program, Uber Vehicle Solutions, to buy or lease vehicles worth over $1
billion.
Ride hailing and car sharing companies could become outlets for automakers
trying to sell more electric vehicles, or hybrid cars, to earn credits under
U.S. federal and state environmental rules. The high costs of an electric car
battery are more rapidly offset by ferrying passengers around a city all day
than by a routine round-trip commute.
GM executives say Lyft will be an important customer for the automaker's
Chevrolet Bolt electric car, due to launch late this year.
BMW's investment in Scoop is also aimed at selling vehicles, Ulrich Quay,
managing director of BMW iVentures, said on Wednesday. Ride sharing can help the
automaker get to know customers who have never driven a BMW, he said.
The Scoop application connects people who live in the same neighborhoods and
work near each other to arrange carpools. The company currently operates in the
San Francisco Bay area.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert and Joseph White in Detroit, Heather Somerville and
Alexandria Sage in San Francisco; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Matthew
Lewis)
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