Cologne/Stuttgart – car2go, the market leader and pioneer for fully flexible short-term car rentals, has now begun operations in Cologne. Starting today, 200 of what will eventually be 350 environmentally friendly smart fortwo cars are available for use in the city. Customers only need to register once to be able to rent one of the smart fortwo cars, which can be returned to any public parking space in the approximately 80 km² area served by car2go. Parking costs are included in the rental fee.

The area served by car2go in Cologne covers the region within the Militärring road as well as large areas of the city’s Deutz and Kalk districts on the eastern bank of the Rhine. The smart fortwo cars used for the service are car2go edition vehicles equipped with an automatic start-stop function, air conditioning, and a radio and navigation system. Customers can use the onboard touchscreen displays to determine which areas of the city are served by car2go and find out how environmentally friendly their driving style is.

As is the case in other cities served by car2go, customers in Cologne only have to pay a one-time registration fee of €9.90, as well as a usage fee of €0.29 per minute each time they rent a vehicle. The rental fee includes applicable taxes, insurance, fuel and parking costs, as well as the first 20 kilometers traveled. Whenever the vehicle is temporarily parked during a rental phase, the rate decreases to €0.09 per parked minute. Discounted rates are available for hourly or daily use: A one-hour car2go rental costs €12.90; €39 is charged for 24 hours of use.

“I’m delighted that car2go is being launched in Cologne, where it is available on both banks of the Rhine,” says Marcus Spickermann, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of car2go GmbH. “In combination with other means of transportation, car2go offers an attractive and environmentally friendly complementary transport solution for inner-city mobility.”

In an arrangement that has already proven its effectiveness elsewhere, the service is being provided in Cologne by the joint venture company car2go Deutschland GmbH, which was established by car2go and Europcar. In addition to providing extensive fleet management expertise, Europe’s leading car rental company, Europcar, is also contributing its logistics and shop network to the joint venture.

In Cologne, customers can currently register for the service at the car2go Shop in the DuMont Carré (Breite Straße 80-90). However, drivers interested in using the cars will soon also be able to obtain advice and register at the following Europcar branches in Cologne: City (Christophstraße 26-28), Deutz Messe (Willi-Brandt-Platz 2), Süd (Koblenzer Straße 1-9) and West Ehrenfeld (Widdersdorfer Straße 213). After customers have registered, they receive a car2go membership card, which can be used to open and lock the door of the rented vehicle. Until the end of August, drivers can register in Cologne for free and new customers can use the vehicles for 30 minutes at no charge.

car2go customers who also apply for a Europcar partner card can rent vehicles from Europcar’s entire fleet at very favorable rates. Specifically, the partner card grants customers a 15 percent discount on Europcar’s best available daily rate, thus ideally complementing car2go whenever a smart fortwo would be insufficient for a task, such as long-distance trips or the transport of bulky loads.

“car2go and Europcar are continuing their successful partnership by launching the service in Germany’s fourth-largest city,” says Thomas Beermann, Head of Strategy & Business Development at Europcar Deutschland GmbH. “The combination of car2go for city traffic and vehicles from our fleet that are more suitable for traveling long distances or transporting large loads provides customers with a comprehensive service for all of their mobility needs.”

Cologne is the fifth city in Germany and the 15th worldwide in which car2go has been introduced. From the very start, customers who register in Cologne can also rent vehicles in Berlin, Hamburg or Düsseldorf. In addition, car2go customers in the above-mentioned cities can use their membership cards to rent one of the 350 smart fortwos that will be hitting the road in Cologne.

The mobility concept car2go is also expanding rapidly in other cities, and more than 150,000 customers can now use 5,300 vehicles worldwide. More than 3 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 six seconds.

“I’m convinced that car2go will soon be as much a part of Cologne as the city’s famous cathedral,” says Klaus Entenmann, Chairman of the Management Board of Daimler Financial Services AG, to which car2go is assigned within the Daimler Group. “The launch underscores Daimler Financial Services’ pioneering role with regard to innovative mobility services The more than three million fully automated rental transactions in 15 cities demonstrate that new mobility concepts are increasingly in demand.”