Report: Daimler, BMW to merge their car-sharing services

German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that automakers Daimler and BMW plan to merge their rival car-sharing services.

The newspaper reported today that the companies could announce a merger of their car2Go and DriveNow services in February.

BMW and Daimler declined to comment on the report. Car-sharing services are popular with young, urban drivers unwilling or unable to buy their own car.

But competition is fierce: Citroen's Multicity car- sharing service ceased operating last year after struggling against its larger rivals.

DriveNow, which is part-owned by rental firm Sixt, has one million registered users worldwide and operates in 13 European cities.
 

Car2go, in which Europcar has a stake, has 2.8 million members worldwide and operates in 26 cities across Europe, North America and China.