BMW is changing the way it’s doing business and that will become more apparent in the following years. The German company realized that personal ownership of cars might not work in the future and an alternative needs to be offered. In this regard, old rivalries are push aside to make room for a new concept of car sharing, a prospect that is being agreed upon by BMW and Daimler. The two giants signed a deal to combine their efforts in this field earlier this year, a bit of news that many overlooked.
However, at a recent event, BMW’s CEO, Mr. Harald Kruger stated that the company he runs will be looking to achieve a rather impressive figure by 2025. The plan is to make sure they have 100 million active users by the time we reach 2025 and therefore serve their mobility needs. What’s an ‘active user’ you ask? BMW didn’t specify but it definitely sounds like subscription programs and car sharing initiatives will get more attention in the future.
“The customer is at the center of all that we do. To build a base of 100 million active customers by 2025, we will need a complete ecosystem that provides an all-round service to fulfill all our customers’ demands and needs. To strengthen our mobility services, we are combining our activities in this area with those of Daimler AG. The planned joint venture will combine both on-demand mobility offerings on an equal footing. Together, we will define the development of services and digitization in our industry. We want to take our customers’ experience of premium mobility beyond the vehicle,” Kruger said.
Take from that what you may but to me it looks like selling cars will eventually die off, with people looking to get more bang from their bucks, in different ways. One key element in this strategy will be the development of autonomous driving cars, which should arrive in 2021 to some degree in the shape of the BMW iNext. The new car will not be completely autonomous as Kruger said during the same event but it will be 100% safe and it will work as a hub for future development.
