BMW Group’s head of sustainability communications, Glenn Schmidt, has told just-auto that emerging business models in areas such as car sharing will work alongside the continuing desire of consumers to own cars.
Schmidt addressed an industry conference organised by the SMMT in London (“SMMTConnected”) to consider themes in automotive connectivity. Delivering perspectives from the BMW Group, Schmidt told delegates that in some parts of the world there is a shift from car ownership to “accessing mobility” and that the youngest customers of the BMW Group don’t own cars.
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“People are able to access our vehicles, when they need to, but don’t own them,” he said. He described these new, young customers as having lifestyles driven by smartphones and connectivity including elements of entertainment, mobility, information, personalised content and health and wellness. “People expect to use their smart devices for seamless mobility,” Schmidt told delegates. “They want to use their devices inside and outside of their cars without any boundaries and our offering has to address these changing needs and expectations.”
Speaking to just-auto, Schmidt outlined how BMW sees the evolution of discrete customer sets, the company’s evolving product offerings tailored to emerging needs, with a new young group of consumers less interested in owning cars than previous generations. “It’s about being prepared for different types of customers,” he said. “There is a growing group of customers that prefer not to own a car, but want easy access to vehicles. Car sharing is a good solution for them and we are providing that.”
However, he maintains that these young consumers who prefer car sharing over ownership will move into car ownership later in life. “There are still, obviously, groups of customers that prefer to own their BMW,” he maintains. “It’s not about replacing an old business model with a new business model, but more a case of adding business models and taking advantage of emerging market trends.
“We see younger customers adopting car sharing, but when they get older, get married, have families, then they want to own their own cars. So the car sharing when younger can attract them and draw them to our brands, provide a positive brand experience early on. That is a good thing for us.”
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By GlobalDataIn December of last year BMW extended its DriveNow car sharing scheme to London. BMW mobility services chief Peter Schwarzenbauer said at the time: “This programme is part of the group’s strategic response to the growth in urban living and shared ownership. Our aim is to expand it into about 15 more cities in Europe and about 10 in North America in the future.”
