BMW Group and Daimler AG plan next steps for joint mobility company. Competition authorities approve merger of mobility services.

Munich/Stuttgart. The BMW Group and Daimler AG are planning the next steps for their joint mobility company, following approval by the responsible competition authorities. The basis for this is the approval of the US competition authorities, which was received on Tuesday, December 18, 2018. This means that all antitrust authorities involved have given the green light for the new joint venture, which is owned in equal parts by the BMW Group and Daimler AG.

The joint venture will focus on ensuring the personal freedom of customers in the field of urban mobility. Geared towards this vision of future urban mobility, a new mobility offering will be created that is easy to access, intuitive and focused on the needs of the user. On their urban journey, customers will move through a seamlessly connected and sustainable ecosystem that combines CarSharing, Ride-Hailing, Parking, Charging and Multimodality from a single source and is available with just a few taps. The idea is to create the most attractive, most comprehensive mobility solution for a better life in our connected world.

Now that the approval of the competition authorities has been received, the goal is to close this transaction by January 31, 2019.

Once this major transaction closes, the new mobility company will present next steps in the first quarter of 2019, in conjunction with the BMW Group and Daimler AG.

The equally-owned joint venture will comprise the following activities and services:

1. Multimodal and on-demand mobility with moovel and ReachNow:

The well over six million users will benefit from intelligent and seamless connectivity between different mobility offerings, such as carsharing, bike rental, taxis and public transport, including booking and payment. The multimodal platform will also offer possible solutions for the needs of urban private transport, including providing cars as a service.

2)    CarSharing with Car2Go and DriveNow:

Car2Go and DriveNow operate a total of 20,000 vehicles in 30 major international cities. Carsharing enables better utilisation of vehicles and thus helps reduce the total number of vehicles in cities. More than four million customers already use these carsharing services.

3)    Ride-Hailing with mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi and Beat:

A total of 15.9 million customers and around 250,000 drivers already use the services of mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi (all in Europe) and Beat (South America) – making Intelligent Apps GmbH one of the leading ride-hailing providers in Europe and South America. Innovative offers such as mytaximatch, which allows people who do not know each other to share a taxi at the tap of a finger, also make an important contribution to reducing inner-city traffic.

4)    Parking with ParkNow and Parkmobile Group/Parkmobile LLC:

Ticketless, cashless on-street parking or help reserving and paying for off-street parking in a garage: Parkmobile already reaches a total of more than 27 million customers in Europe and North America and offers digital parking solutions in over 1,100 cities. Innovative digital parking services reduce the time and amount of driving involved in finding a parking space. This reduces traffic significantly, as cars searching for parking spaces currently account for around 30% of road traffic.

5)    Charging with ChargeNow and Digital Charging Solutions:

Easy access (incl. location, charging and payment) to the world’s largest network of public charging stations. Combined with parking privileges in cities, this will support the expansion of electromobility, by helping people integrate this drive technology more easily into their mobility needs.

Daimler AG                                                               

Hendrik Sackmann

Corporate Communications                                      

Telephone: + 49 711 17-35014                                 

hendrik.sackmann@daimler.com                             

BMW Group                                                              

Mathias Schmidt                                                       

Head of Business and Finance Communications     

Telephone: +49 89 382-24544                                  

Mathias.M.Schmidt@bmw.de                              

BMW Group

Christina Hepe

Business and Finance Communications

Telephone: +49 89 382-38770

Christina.Hepe@bmw.de                                          

This document contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current views about future events. The words “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “can,” “could,” “plan,” “project,” “should” and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties, including an adverse development of global economic conditions, in particular a decline of demand in our most important markets; a deterioration of our refinancing possibilities on the credit and financial markets; events of force majeure including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, political unrest, armed conflicts, industrial accidents and their effects on our sales, purchasing, production or financial services activities; changes in currency exchange rates; a shift in consumer preferences towards smaller, lower-margin vehicles; a possible lack of acceptance of our products or services which limits our ability to achieve prices and adequately utilise our production capacities; price increases for fuel or raw materials; disruption of production due to shortages of materials, labour strikes or supplier insolvencies; a decline in resale prices of used vehicles; the effective implementation of cost-reduction and efficiency-optimisation measures; the business outlook for companies in which we hold a significant equity interest; the successful implementation of strategic cooperations and joint ventures; changes in laws, regulations and government policies, particularly those relating to vehicle emissions, fuel economy and safety; the resolution of pending government investigations or of investigations requested by governments and the conclusion of pending or threatened future legal proceedings; and other risks and uncertainties, some of which we describe under the heading “Risk and Opportunity Report” in the current Annual Report. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialises or if the assumptions underlying any of our forward-looking statements prove to be incorrect, the actual results may be materially different from those we express or imply by such statements. We do not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements since they are based solely on the circumstances at the date of publication.

The BMW Group

With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises 30 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2017, the BMW Group sold over 2,463,500 passenger vehicles and more than 164,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2017 was € 10.655 billion on revenues amounting to € 98.678 billion. As of 31 December 2017, the BMW Group had a workforce of 129,932 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.

Daimler at a Glance

Daimler AG is one of the world’s most successful automotive companies. With its divisions Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services, the Daimler Group is one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global reach. Daimler Financial Services provides financing, leasing, fleet management, insurance, financial investments, credit cards, and innovative mobility services. The company’s founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, made history with the invention of the automobile in the year 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, it is a motivation and commitment of Daimler to shape safely and sustainably the future of mobility.

The Group’s focus is on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior automobiles that appeal and fascinate. Daimler consequently invests in the development of efficient drive trains with the long-term goal of locally emission-free driving: from hightech combustion engines about hybrid vehicles to electric drive trains powered by battery or fuel cell. Furthermore, the company follows a consistent path towards intelligent connectivity of its vehicles, autonomous driving and new mobility concepts. This is just one example of how Daimler willingly accepts the challenge of meeting its responsibility towards society and the environment. Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly all the countries of the world and has production facilities in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa.

Its current brand portfolio includes, in addition to the world’s most valuable premium automotive brand, Mercedes-Benz (Source: Interbrand-Study, 10/4/2018), as well as Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach and Mercedes me, the brands smart, EQ, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, FUSO, Setra and Thomas Built Buses, and Daimler Financial Services’ brands: Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, Daimler Truck Financial, moovel, car2go and mytaxi. The company is listed on the stock exchanges of Frankfurt and Stuttgart (stock exchange symbol DAI). With application of IFRS 15 and IFRS 9 in financial year 2017, Group revenue would have amounted to €164.2 billion and Group EBIT would have amounted to €14.3 billion. Before application of IFRS 15 and 9, Group revenue in 2017 amounted to €164.3 billion and Group EBIT amounted to €14.7 billion, as previously reported.