BMW’s DriveNow and Daimler’s Car2Go to merge

BMW and Daimler are allegedly close to signing a deal for the merger of their car-sharing business, Reuters reports. A high-level source within one of the OEMs says that the combined company will be run independently, with BMW and Daimler as the majority stakeholders.

The rationale behind the merger is to unite forces against number-one competitor Uber. Currently, Daimler operates about 14,000 free-floating cars in 26 cities in Europe, North America and China. DriveNow, a joint-venture between BMW and car rental company Sixt, is smaller in size: it runs a fleet of some 6,000 cars and is mainly present on the European continent.

Rumours about this merger first emerged over a year ago, but talks apparently broke down because Sixt could not agree to the deal. If all parties come to an agreement this time, the brand names are likely to co-exist – the real merger would pertain to the technology used.