My Blog About Racing: Car2go Austin celebrates one-year anniversary; expansion coming soon

Monday, November 22, 2010

Car2go Austin celebrates one-year anniversary; expansion coming soon

Filed under: MPG, Transportation Alternatives, SMART, Daimler

Car2go Smart Fortwo - Click above for high-res image gallery

Daimler launched its first North American Car2go pilot project in partnership with the city of Austin,TX back in November 2009. In May of this year, the program opened to the public. By September, the number of registered users had soared beyond 10,000 and the amount of total rentals exceeded 80,000. Now, Car2go Austin celebrates its one-year anniversary and is proud to announce that its membership role is almost 15,000 strong and efforts to expand the program further are underway.

Over the next couple of months, Car2go will increase the size of its Austin fleet by 50 percent, bringing the total number of vehicles to 300. In addition, the company will also introduce a new Smart fortwo - the "world's first carsharing production model," the Smart car2go edition - and begin planning for a Spring of 2011 expansion to the Austin operating area.

Nicholas Cole, president and chief executive officer of car2go N.A. LLC, remarked on the success of the program and the significance of celebrating a one-year anniversary, stating:

300,000 miles driven, 100,000 rentals and close to 15,000 registered members clearly shows the success of the program and how the Austin community has adopted this unique concept since its launch a year ago. The numbers have exceeded our expectations and have encouraged other North American cities to look at Austin as a model when it comes to finding alternative solutions in reducing congestion and emissions.

Gallery: Detroit 2010: Smart Fortwo Car2go