BMW and Daimler agree to combine mobility services

[EnI]

BMW Group and Daimler AG agree to combine mobility services

28.03.2018 Press Release

• Automotive pioneers and innovation leaders to shape sustainable urban mobility of the future
• Strong alliance to create unique customer offering: seamless, multimodal, fast and readily available
• Ecosystem for on-demand mobility: single source for CarSharing, Ride-Hailing, Parking, Charging and Multimodality
• Sustainable solutions for challenges of urban mobility and better quality of life in big cities
• Joint-venture concept will ensure expansion of digital business models at both companies

Munich/Stuttgart. The BMW Group and Daimler AG are joining forces to offer customers a single source for sustainable urban mobility services. The two companies today signed an agreement to merge their mobility services business units. Subject to examination and approval by the responsible competition authorities, the BMW Group and Daimler AG plan to combine and strategically expand their existing on-demand mobility offering in the areas of CarSharing, Ride-Hailing, Parking, Charging and Multimodality. Each company will hold a 50-percent stake in a joint-venture model comprising both companies’ mobility services. The two companies will remain competitors in their respective core businesses.

The aim of this transaction is to become a leading provider of innovative mobility services. Both automotive manufacturers aim to shape the mobility of the future to be able to offer their customers unique experiences and support their partners, such as cities and communes, in achieving sustainable urban mobility.

The partners intend to offer their customers a holistic ecosystem of intelligent, seamlessly connected mobility services, available at the tap of a finger. Together, the BMW Group and Daimler AG plan to grow this new business model sustainably and enable rapid global scaling of services. Working as partners, both companies are thereby addressing the challenges arising from urban mobility and changing customer wishes, and cooperating with cities, municipalities and other interest groups to improve quality of life in major cities. The merger will promote electromobility, for example, by offering electrified CarSharing vehicles, as well as easy access to charging and parking options. As a result, it will become even easier to experience and use sustainable mobility services.

“The BMW Group is shaping future mobility – and striking out in new directions to do so. Our Strategy NUMBER ONE > NEXT provides the BMW Group with a roadmap to a digital and emission-free future,” said Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “Combining our mobility services as planned will create a unique digital ecosystem. This alliance will make it easier for our customers to discover the emission-free mobility of the future. We remain competitors when it comes to the best premium vehicles. The planned merger of our mobility services will pool our resources and sends a strong signal to our new competitors,” added Krüger.

“As pioneers in automotive engineering, we will not leave the task of shaping future urban mobility to others. There will be more people than ever before without a car who will still want to be extremely mobile. We want to combine our expertise and experience to develop a unique, sustainable ecosystem for urban mobility,” said Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “At Daimler, we are vigorously and systematically pursuing our transformation from automobile manufacturer to provider of mobility services with our CASE strategy. CASE stands for connectivity, automated driving, sharing & services and electric mobility.”

“The future of mobility lies in cities: The key to more liveable cities is in intelligent and seamless services that are easy to use and combine sustainable modes of transport and mobility services,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for MINI, Rolls-Royce, BMW Motorrad, Customer Engagement and Digital Business Innovation BMW Group. “The pioneering work and commitment of the employees who provide our services have laid a valuable foundation. I would like to thank them very much indeed for all that they have done,” Schwarzenbauer continued.

“The sustainable mobility of tomorrow is flexible and connected – a vision we share with our partner, the BMW Group,” explained Bodo Uebber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services. “Together, we can offer millions of customers highly-attractive products and services to make their lives easier and their environment a better place to live. The options offered by the planned joint venture-concept will complement mobility services offered by cities.”

The equally-owned joint venture model is designed to combine services in the following five areas:

1) Multimodal and on-demand mobility with moovel and ReachNow:
Intelligent and seamless connectivity between different mobility offerings – including booking and payment – will create significant added value for users. It will also offer possible solutions for the challenges of urban private transport.

2) CarSharing with Car2Go and DriveNow:
Car2Go and DriveNow operate a total of 20,000 vehicles in 31 major international cities. CarSharing enables better utilisation of vehicles and thus helps reduce the total number of vehicles in cities. More than four million customers already use these CarSharing services.

3) Ride-Hailing with mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi and Beat:
With Europe’s largest taxi app, simply order a taxi or use a licensed driver in France for a ride in the French metropolises. In total, 13 million customers and some 140,000 drivers are already using the modern, practical and fast way of Ride-Hailing with mytaxi, Clever Taxi and Beat or private hire vehicle service Chauffeur Privé. Innovative offers such as mytaximatch, in which people not known to each other share a taxi at a fingertip, make an important contribution to reducing inner-city traffic by eliminating numerous individual trips in the urban space.

4) Parking with ParkNow and Parkmobile Group/Parkmobile LLC:
Ticketless, cashless on-street parking or help finding, reserving and paying for off-street parking in a garage. Innovative digital parking services reduce the time and the amount of driving involved in finding a parking space. This will reduce traffic significantly, as cars searching for parking spaces currently account for around 30% of road traffic.

5) Charging with ChargeNow and Digital Charging Solutions:
Easy access (incl. location, charging and payment) to the world’s largest network of public charging stations with more than 143,000 charging points worldwide. Combined with parking privileges in cities, this will support the expansion of electromobility, by helping people get to know this drive technology and integrate it easily into their mobility needs.


The formation of the joint venture will produce a significant valuation and earnings effect at Daimler Financial Services. If the approval of the competition authorities is received this year, following adjustments will be made to the group outlook for Daimler AG: The company expects EBIT for Daimler Financial Services to be significantly higher than the previous year; for the Group as a whole, this means EBIT is likely to be slightly higher than the previous year.

If approved by the relevant authorities in the course of this year, the formation of the joint venture will trigger a one-time valuation and earnings effect in the BMW AG’s group financial statement and thus lead to an adjustment of the company’s guidance: Under these circumstances, pre-tax earnings on Group level would increase slightly in 2018 compared with the previous year. The valuation and earnings effect would have no impact on the EBIT margin in the automotive segment.

The joint project is subject to examination and approval by the respective competition authorities. The best-possible customer experience is already the focus of both partners’ services. Therefore, initially nothing will change for the millions of customers, with existing services still being provided to the same extent and with the same level of quality.

Sourec: BMW Group

 

[Deleted member 25]

I thought BMW said thanks but no thanks to further daimler collaboration after the mustache man agreed to spill the beans about the cartel ? Didn't they cancel or not renew common interior module purchase contract ? Anyway i am still happy to see Solutions merged.

 

[Wolfgang]

Here's what Dr Z wrote on the Daimler blog.

Daimler & BMW: A new partnership starts, rivalry stays

Daimler announced today that it intends to enter into a joint venture with BMW to create a mobility powerhouse. With this move, two arch-rivals leverage competition and cooperation – at the same time. Here’s the rationale behind this step.

At Daimler we‘ve always respected our competitors. But typically we don’t applaud them. 2016 was an exception though. That year marked an important milestone for one of our strongest rivals: BMW celebrated its 100th anniversary. And since our company is more than 130 years old, we published this ad: ”Thank you for 100 years of competition. The previous 30 years were actually a bit boring.“

Competition motivates us
That line was generally well received – even in Munich, Bavaria. And for us this was way more than a joke. Because one reason for the strength of Germany’s auto industry is the fierce competition among several top-notch German auto brands, especially between BMW and Mercedes. It has been very fierce! No hard feelings, though. I guess that’s much like Pepsi vs. Coke, the Beatles vs. Stones or even Batman vs. Superman.

My point concerning the rivalry of our companies is that generations of employees on both sides will confirm how it motivates us all to raise the bar on our performance. Over and over again.

Mobility services to the next level
That’s why the leadership teams at BMW and Daimler absolutely agree on one thing: We will stay competitors. At the same time, we’ve now agreed on something else: It’s time to take mobility services to the next level. Together.

Speaking for Daimler, we initiated the shift from car manufacturer to mobility provider nearly a decade ago. Today, almost 20 million-customers use our mobility services in over 100 cities worldwide. Those range from flexible car sharing with car2go to ride hailing via mytaxi. And with our moovel app, the inventor of the automobile is even selling tickets for public transport. All in all, Daimler is now one of the leading mobility service provider in Europe.

That’s great. But it’s just the start.
At BMW and Daimler we think it’s time for truly holistic mobility that benefits our customers –without the need for an increasing number of apps, passwords and sign-ins. We believe in broad and seamless solutions, bringing together all things mobility from car sharing, ride hailing to car parking and EV charging. And, we are determined to pave the way for a universe of opportunities at the crossroads of shared mobility and autonomous driving.

Many of these plans require not just a new perspective on our own business, but also new partnerships with others. Beyond the old “friends & enemies” scheme, we also see the alternative of being partners and rivals at the same time. It’s in that sense we will join forces with an unlikely, but highly complementary partner.

This partnership means:

• Combined Car Sharing with car2go und DriveNow: Customers will get access to a total of 20,000 vehicles in 31 metropolitan areas around the globe.
• Combined On-Demand Mobility: ReachNow and moovel as mobility platforms will grant customers access to various modes of Transportation.
• Combined Ride Hailing services: mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clevertaxi and Taxibeat will bring about the world’s largest taxi service and thus help significantly reduce traffic in urban areas.
• Convenient Parking options: Parkmobile and ParkNow will support finding a spot while offering ticket- and cashless payment.
• Customer-friendly Charging solutions for electric cars: ChargeNow and Digital Charging Solutions combined will provide a comprehensive network of 143,000 publicly accessible power outlets.

Altogether, this joint venture is our ultimate commitment to dynamically scale mobility and expand our current service portfolio into new exciting areas in a most customer-friendly manner. In other words: The next 30 years will be anything but boring.

Daimler & BMW: A new partnership starts, rivalry stays | Daimler-Blog

 

[Wolfgang]

An example of a service.

Arriving at the San Jose International Airport (SJC) and requesting a chauffeured ride to the Mercedes Benz Research and Development facility in Sunnyvale, including airport pickup and up to 1 hour waiting time. Some current quotes:

using an E-Class or 5 series, about $100
using a V-Class with 7 seats, about $140
using an S-Class or 7 series, about $190

Blacklane - Your Professional Driver

 

[EnI]

Daimler-BMW Mobility Services Joint Venture To Be Named "Jurbey"

The two rival German automakers are combining their mobility services investments into a joint venture with a particularly unusual name.

BY EDWARD NIEDERMEYER
JANUARY 22, 2019

Daimler and BMW's new joint mobility services company will operate under the name “Jurbey” according to multiple sources familiar with joint venture plans. The two companies are expected unveil the new joint mobility services venture at the end of February. Spokespeople for the two German automakers declined to comment on the news.

The German trademark for the name “Jurbey” was registered in August by the law firm Cornelius Bartenbach Haesemann & Partner, which registered the Daimler trademark “Das Beste Oder Nichts” in 2009. The trademark filing identifies some of the services to be provided by Jurbey as:


"Software, in particular for providing information on transportation services, for providing parking spaces for vehicles and for supplying and distributing energy"
"Arranging of contracts for the provision of transportation services, in particular rental of vehicles, providing of sparking spaces and vehicle parking as well as travel route planning and navigation services"
"Insurance services, in particular insurance underwriting"
"Loan and credit financing services"
"Petrol station services, namely, refueling, washing, cleaning, maintaining and repairing of vehicles; charging of electric vehicles and car batteries"
"On-line access to data and application programs for the provision of transportation services and for booking transportation means, for providing parking spaces for vehicles and for the supply and distribution of energy"

The European Commission approved the merger of the Daimler and BMW mobility services on the 7th of November, detailing plans to merge the two firms existing brands in five business areas:

Free-floating car sharing services, via DriveNow and car2go
Ride hailing services, via mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi and Beat
Parking services, via ParkNow and Parkmobile Group/Parkmobile
Charging services, via ChargeNow and Digital Charging Solutions
Other on-demand mobility services, via Moovel & ReachNow

According to the EC approval, a “sixth joint venture will manage the brands and license them out to the other five joint ventures.” According to people familiar with the joint venture plans, this sixth joint venture will use the Jurbey brand.

Daimler and BMW have announced that the new joint venture will be headquartered in Berlin, and European employees of the affected brands have been told that they will have to move to the German capitol according to a person familiar with the joint venture plans. Stuttgart and Munich offices of some affected companies were initially supposed to remain open as “satellite offices,” but are now being shut down in favor of consolidation in the new Berlin office according to multiple sources.

These plans have caused some consternation inside various Daimler and BMW mobility sub-brands, sources said. Some of that consternation has spilled out into the public, with one Stuttgart-based employee complaining about the impact of the move in a post on the German job review site Kununu. Moovel Head of People and Organization Thorstein Heilig responded by confirming management’s desire to centralize workers in the Berlin office, but said the situation was fluid and that employees would receive weekly updates on consolidation plans.

An Art Noveau department store building, “Kaufhaus Jandorf” on Brunnenstrasse in Berlin Mitte, will serve as the new integrated headquarters for Jurbey and its mobility service sub-brands sources said. Daimler spokesperson Silke Walters confirmed to Berliner Kurier that the company had secured a 30 year lease for the building and could use it for offices as well as a showcase for the company’s future mobility plans. The new office will include office space for 500 employees, according to one source. Daimler has previously used the building for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week events.

A visit to the Berlin building in November showed that it is currently undergoing extensive renovations, and a source familiar with the situation says employees of one affected brand are currently being moved into an interim office in Berlin until the new joint headquarters with other brands had completed renovations.

Source: BMW and Daimler mobility services joint venture to be named Jurbey

 

[CrunchSlaughtered]

JERKY

 

[Wolfgang]

MB Passion discovered some trademarks were filed?

Jurbey, Jurbey Charge, Jurbey Taxi, Jurbey Ride, Jurbey Park, Jurbey Drive & Jurbey Move

Mobilitätsmarke von Daimler und BMW soll Jurbey heißen - Mercedes-Benz Passion Blog / Mercedes Benz, smart, Maybach, AMG

 

[Deleted member 25]

What a shit name, it sounds liker gerber which in french means to vomit.

 

[EnI]

What a shit name, it sounds liker gerber which in french means to vomit.

It also sounds like gerbil.

 

[Wolfgang]

Both Harald Krüger and Dieter Zetsche are expected.

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[EnI]

T-7?

 

[Wolfgang]

^ 7 days to go.

Closing for Joint Venture completed: Joint press conference of BMW Group and Daimler AG about launching of their joint mobility company

Live stream: February 22, 2019, 10:00 (GMT) / 11:00 (CET)

The BMW Group and Daimler AG are joining forces to offer customers a single source for sustainable urban mobility services. Having successfully completed the closing, an important milestone on the way towards founding the new mobility company.

In order to inform you about further plans and future perspectives for the joint venture, we are broadcasting the press conference in Berlin on February 22, 2019 at 10:00am GMT / 11:00am CET with Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, and Dr Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. Source: Daimler/live

 

[Wolfgang]

T-1

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[Wolfgang]

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[dalab]

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[Deleted member 25]

Interesting, most of them retained the BMW nomenclature.

 

[dalab]

Extract
"We have a very, very long history with our bus operations, where we operate closely with communities around the globe," Zetsche said.

The importance of strong ties with local governments were revealed when Volkswagen's new service MOIA, which pools rides of up to six people, was denied a license to operate by Berlin's own transportation authority earlier this month.

"A very good example was when we started discussing the positions. There was no one saying, 'okay everybody has to have the same amount of people'," Zetsche said. "It didn't matter [as] we were looking for the best people to lead us in the five different verticals."

"Nobody has all these businesses in one entity," he said.

 

[dalab]

www.xataka.com

"We do not want to accept the offers of Apple or Google because the software is the brain of our cars": Dieter Zetsche, director of Mercedes

The MWC 2019 has not only been the folding smartphones or the 5G , but also engine brands trying to take the stage to launch their messages of innovation and position in the market.

We had the opportunity to participate for a few minutes in a meeting with the charismatic director of Mercedes-Benz Carsand chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Dieter Zetsche , who told us about Tesla, where the business of the car manufacturers will change or the importance of the software for them.
With an overview of mobility in major cities more challenging than ever (Barcelona itself did not have Uber or Cabify on the dates when the MWC was held, which added to a metro strike), car manufacturers are taking positions and Car2Go , the carsharing service that has 3 million users , is a subsidiary of Daimler.

Looking ahead to the next few years, Dieter told us that "volume matters" in this business and that is why they have reached an agreement with rival BMW "to improve and grow in carsharing".

In addition, he is clear that "both ridesharing and carsharing should reign in the cities", and that is why he believes that collaboration and work together with cities is fundamental. After all, buses are an important business also for Daimler, which in 2018 achieved more than 4,500 million euros with this division ( results report in pdf ) and employs almost 19,000 people.

Linked to the issue of mobility of the future and carsharing, the debate arises about cars owned, shared or rented. Dieter believes that services such as Car2Go, Uber or even autonomous taxis "are only viable in areas with high population density" and points out that even within large cities, the areas where these services are most used are the center and surrounding areas. Moreover, he thinks that it would be a lot if these alternative transport options reach 20% of the total and it is clear that mobility will remain individual:

The vast majority of mobility will continue to be controlled by users, whether they own the car or rent it or whatever, and that's why it's important to be present in this part of the mobility, but the big business is going to continue being at the level of individual mobility.

Linked to the issue of mobility of the future and carsharing, the debate arises about cars owned, shared or rented. Dieter believes that services such as Car2Go, Uber or even autonomous taxis "are only viable in areas with high population density" and points out that even within large cities, the areas where these services are most used are the center and surrounding areas. Moreover, he thinks that it would be a lot if these alternative transport options reach 20% of the total and it is clear that mobility will remain individual:

The vast majority of mobility will continue to be controlled by users, whether they own the car or rent it or whatever, and that's why it's important to be present in this part of the mobility, but the big business is going to continue being at the level of individual mobility.

Collaborate with BMW, for fear of Tesla?

Neither could be missing a topic of discussion that has been circulating in the professional environment of the motor world: the collaborations of manufacturers who have been competitors all their lives. Dieter himself cited the agreement with BMW in carsharing on his own, so we asked him if he believes that in the coming years there will be more alliances of this type.

Here the director of Mercedes became a little more serious because, on the one hand, he recalled the great transformation they are experiencing ("We are moving from gasoline engines to electric vehicles, we are moving from vehicles owned by a person to shared vehicles, we are connecting the car to the Internet, etc. ") and how necessary it is not to be left behind.

On the other hand, it launched a hint to "competitors that do not come from the world of the car" and "receive investments from capital markets" because it implies that "our resources we have to earn first to progress in the future and stay relevant" .

"It makes a lot of sense to share some of these resources that we need, either with other companies that have traditionally been competitors or with new companies that come from a different world"
For that same reason, Dieter sees a lot of sense for companies to share resources , "either with other companies that have traditionally been competitors or with new companies that come from a different world, such as technology companies or startups," and convinced that "it is the way of working".

In case there is any doubt, he himself laughs (although speaking very seriously) that "we will continue fighting like crazy for every consumer that has to choose between BMW or Mercedes" and thinks it is good for the consumer "because it makes us let's work the best we can all the time. "

 

[EnI]

Collaborate with BMW, for fear of Tesla?

It's annoying but hilarious how "journalists" (aka Tesla fanatics) try to convince the world Tesla is the centre of the universe, and that every change in the automotive industry is happening because of Tesla.

Sure Tesla is a maverick, a trailblazer ... a very important agent, catalyst of change in the industry BUT ... There's much more going on than just Tesla being a key factor.

There is a HUGE pressure from legislators around the world to introduce administrative barriers for ICEVs (especially diesel ones) and favouring PHEVs & even more the BEVs.

Then there is China with important governmental push for BEVs ... and Chinese carmakers that are able to produce BEVs much cheaper than any other carmaker around the world (incl. Tesla). This being possible since China is controlling rare earths supply and leads (soon global) Li-ion battery supply.

And then there are American & Chinese IT giants who are pushing AD development much further & much faster than carmakers do, trying to provide universal platform for automotive AD features. And beyond: all the "connected" services being a part of the same or sister infotainment platform.

So, it's not all about Tesla. There are bigger agents & factors present than Tesla that are driving the automotive industry into the new era.

But I guess - mostly due Elon's tireless Twitter et al. PR & with a huge help of Tesla fanatics - there's a false perception being established that Tesla is the key or even the only agent of change. BUT IT?S NOT! It's just one of them, and not even the biggest & most important one. And media tend to amplify Elon's PR. And now it seems it's all about Tesla.

OK, I do understand the push from Elon & the Tesla fans ... But I would expect a bit more objective & insightful reports from the " automotive journalists" & media ... doing a bit more research before writing down "the conclusions" and "the reasons".

Media today became too casual & too negligent when it comes to reporting. They tend to to oversimplify the issues. Too quickly pinning causality to the loudest, shiniest & biggest-looking factor ... amplifying the wrong or insufficiently supported already prevailing claims.

As said many times: today everyone with FB / TW / IN account & a smartphone (not even pro camera is required anymore!) can claim to be a "journalist". Or a "influencer" (aka PR / advertising whore). And some even have other platforms like news portals, communities, even traditional media like TV channels or newspapers / magazines. Quality reporting going down the drain very quickly these days ...

 

[dalab]

Totally agree in what you say about that synthetic "journalism", I could not express it better.

On the other hand Tesla shines today and with great reason for a key aspect that omnuvilates these minimedia to call them in some way and is the range that triples that of the established brands for 100 years and that is enough magic so that the media do not see everything the rest that matters in the industry.

It is a great merit of Tesla and is not the only one, but when others reach that level of range, that advantage that makes them sell like crazy today will vanish, but will remain in the heads of the people as a pioneer and that gives status and nobody can take it off.
"Whoever hits first hits twice"