Car sharing – or car club – schemes across Europe are expected to grow from using around 21,000 vehicles at the end of last year to more than 240,000 by 2020 with the number of subscribers increasing from 0.7m to nearly 15m in the same time.
New analysis from consultancy Frost & Sullivan suggests that there will be more than 200 car-sharing organisations (CSOs)across Europe by 2020 and a further 24 peer-to-peer (P2P) organisations while three new sub-segments will emerge in the market: electric vehicle car sharing, corporate car sharing and one-way car sharing.
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The research notes that P2P car sharing is expected to boost car sharing rentals in less populated areas in Europe.
“Mega trends like growing urbanisation and changing mobility trends have triggered interest in both existing car owners and new buyers,” says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Vishwas Shankar. “As the place of business becomes concentrated around inner city centres, private car owners feel the pinch of escalating fuel prices, rising parking charges and negative subsidies in form of tolls and congestion charges. And even if they are ready to pay this all, they will still face the challenge of finding a parking space at all.”
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The emerging European peer-to-peer (P2P) car sharing market, which had 13 operators in 2010, witnessed an almost 85-90% growth in one year to increase to 24 operators in 2011.
Part of the growth in traditional car sharing will come from new entrants, including more vehicle manufacturers and transport operators.
“Growth in the European car sharing market has been driven by organic expansions such as the launch of one-way car sharing services in new cities by Daimler Car2Go and BMW Drive Now,” said Shankar. “Governmental schemes, such as the Paris Autolib initially introduced as support to promote electric vehicle car sharing, are also expected to become popular throughout Europe.”
