Ulm– car2go, the world's first fully flexible short-term carsharing program, has broken through all barriers to reach the impressive milestone of one million rentals. For more than two and a half years, the network of blue and white smart fortwos, operated by the Daimler subsidiary have been used on average, more than1,000 times per day. At the same time, car2go registered the 50,000th global car2go member at the Hamburg shop this week.

The car2go mobility service, first launched to the public in Ulm in March 2009, has an impressive customer base in the city, with more than 20,000 registered members; at their disposal is a network of 300 car2go edition smart fortwos, ready and available for use. In 2010 and 2011 car2go expanded into more cities, including Hamburg, Austin, Texas and the Canadian city of Vancouver, where the company is continuing its success story. After operating for just six months, car2go in Hamburg has nearly 9,000 registered customers, and has recently expanded its operating area. Its fleet of 300 cars has become a prominent feature of the cityscape. In total car2go customers around the world have driven nearly ten million kilometres in car2go vehicles. The average distance covered in one trip is between 5 and 10 kilometres. The two-seater smart fortwo has proven to be the ideal sized car for driving in big city traffic.

The two new car2go locations opening in November in Amsterdam and San Diego are both off to a successful start. In the Dutch capital nearly 1,000 customers pre-registered in the first three weeks. car2go Amsterdam will start operating on 24 November, with a network of 300 smart fortwo electric drive vehicles. In the Californian city of San Diego the operations began Nov. 18; here too, the car2go network consists exclusively of electric powered cars. In Vienna the first 500 smart fortwo MHD vehicles, with automatic start-stop system, will line up for the start of operations in December. Customers in Vienna can already register at the local car2go shop. At the start of the new year, the French city of Lyon will join the global car2go network - this will be the first branch to be operated by the new European joint venture company, car2go Europe GmbH, which is currently being set up in co-operation between car2go and the car rental company Europcar. Between the Lyon launch and the start-up in Stuttgart planned for the second half of 2012, other cities in Europe and North America will also follow suit.

On December 1, the two German locations, Ulm and Hamburg, will introduce a new pricing model, making car2go an even more attractive option. While the price per minute for driving time (29 cents in Hamburg, 24 cents in Ulm) and for stops in between (9 cents in both cities) remains unchanged, in future a maximum hourly rate of EUR 12.90, or EUR 39 per day, will be charged for longer rentals. This allows customers to simply keep their car2go for several hours, or even the whole day, so that they can go about their business, or perhaps their Christmas shopping, without worrying about the meter.

Trips of up to 20 km per rental will not incur any additional costs. For longer distances, the new pricing model has an additional distance charge of EUR 0.29 (Hamburg), or EUR 0.24 (Ulm), per kilometre after the first 20 kilometres. This covers the fuel, insurance and depreciation costs incurred on longer distance journeys. Price differences between Ulm and Hamburg are resulting from different costs e.g. for parking and insurance.

Experience in Hamburg and Ulm has shown that over 97% of car2go trips are shorter than 20 km. Based on this, the additional charge will only apply to a relatively small number of customers, while on the other hand many of them will benefit from the lower hourly rates.

The new pricing structure also goes hand in hand with changesto thecar2go customer service model in Ulm and Hamburg. car2go’s most important goal in this context is to have better, more direct contact between the customers and the car2go staff. This is why the customer management model, which in the past was mainly operated via a call centre, will change. In future the call centre will be used exclusively for emergency calls, and will still be accessible directly and free of charge from the vehicles. Customers will be able to send all other questions, requests or suggestions directly to car2go via an easy-to-use Web form. All queries will be answered directly by the staff of the inquired car2go location, to ensure the best local knowledge and expertise. Customers wanting personal assistance can, of course, send a request for our staff to give them a call.

Another innovation is currently being tested in Ulm: car2go drivers not only can refuel the car by themselves - now they can also take the opportunity while they're at the service station to drive through the car wash and have the interior vacuumed. Customers using this service (fuelling, washing, vacuuming) will automatically be credited with 60 free minutes. Initial evaluations show that young people in particular love to use this service, which allows them to "earn" free minutes.

Robert Henrich, CEO of car2go GmbH, summarizes the changes as follows: "Right from the outset our aim at car2go has been not just to provide a useful service, but also to really inspire our clients’ enthusiasm. Our figures show that we have succeeded in this. The changes to our pricing and customer service models make car2go even more attractive, and this will win us new groups of customers, such as business people."