car2go launches car-sharing in London

car2go, the carsharing service from Daimler and Europcar, has launched in two London boroughs. The idea behind car2go is simple – it’s a whole new way of getting around that’s easy to use, easy on the pocket, and easy on the environment. The future of Urban Mobility.

From Tuesday 4 December, car2go’s fleet of funky smart mhd coupés are available to use – just get in and drive off. People can register free for car2go until the end of 2012, either online at car2go.com/London or at the car2go shop in the world’s first pop-up mall, BOXPARK Shoreditch, or at car rental company Europcar’s stores across London. Once registered, car2go members can locate any available car through the car2go London website, by using a free app or just by walking up to an available car, touching the card reader on the windscreen, getting in and driving off.

As easy as using your mobile phone

car2go costs 35p per minute and is billed directly to the customers’ account. Until 31 December 2012, customers can register for free and get 30 minutes of driving pre-loaded onto their account. This rate always includes fuel, insurance, road tax, parking and maintenance. Customers don’t even have to return their car2go to the same parking bay from which it was collected – any borough-owned or unregulated parking space in a participating borough will do. And of course the cars can be driven anywhere any car can. The car2go can be kept as long as the customer wants, or for a quick hop across town.

London is the 17th city served by car2go, and globally the company has more than 250,000 customers who use over 6,000 vehicles worldwide. More than five million car2go rental transactions have been made to date, and this number continues to rise exponentially. In fact, a car2go vehicle is now being rented at one of the existing locations every four seconds.

Every car2go vehicle in London is based on the smart mhd – an efficient, compact two-seater which emits just 98g/km of CO2, plus the convenience of automatic transmission, start-stop technology, GPS navigation and the comfort of air conditioning. The smart fortwo coupé is easy to drive due to its dinky dimensions, a dream to park, and super safe thanks to its tridion safety cell. It’s surprisingly practical too: Its boot can accommodate everything from a quick shop to a tumble dryer – perfect for those impulse buys whether its Green Street, Upper Street, Cheam Road or anywhere in between.

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