Sixt to challenge BMW, Daimler with car-sharing offer

FRANKFURT -- Germany's Sixt said on Thursday it would launch a new mobility platform this year that bundles its traditional car rental and transfer services with a car-sharing offering, challenging carmakers BMW and Daimler.

Sixt in January sold its stake in car-sharing service DriveNow to joint venture partner BMW, which is expected to combine the company with Daimler's Car2Go in an alliance to compete against the likes of Uber and Lyft.

The German carmakers want to build a joint business that includes car-sharing, ride-hailing, electric vehicle charging and digital parking services, a senior executive at one of the companies said.

The market for ride-hailing services makes up about 33 percent of the global taxi market, and could grow eightfold to $285 billion by 2030, once autonomous robotaxis are in operation, Goldman Sachs said in a research note.

BMW and Daimler are working on developing autonomous cars, vehicles that could enable them to upend the market for taxi and ride-hailing services.

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