BMW Group UK and Drover Announce Mobility Partnership.

BMW Group UK has today announced a mobility partnership with Drover, a car subscription company, to launch a new, unique way to get access to BMW and MINI vehicles on a flexible, monthly all-in subscription basis.

Now prospective BMW and MINI owners will be able to drive vehicles such as the MINI Hatch or ultimate driving machines in the form of BMW 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 series, as well as X and i models, for one all-inclusive monthly subscription price. Drover’s innovative user proposition rolls the entire cost of car ownership into one monthly price, including the cost of the car, insurance, maintenance, servicing, taxes and breakdown-cover.

Users can sign up at www.joindrover.com/bmw-mini and the same portal is used for them to swap, upgrade or downgrade their car monthly cost or just cancel altogether, without any long-term commitment or steep upfront down-payments. The partnership idea was born during BMW’s Innovation Lab program, a ten-week programme which enables start-ups to trial products at scale, receive expert mentoring from senior members of the BMW Group UK management team and access insights from leading subject matter experts in the automotive and automotive finance sectors

Chris Brownridge, BMW UK Sales Director, said: “New, creative solutions allow the chance for car users to experience BMW or MINI ownership for as long or as little as they require. BMW Group UK is at the forefront of such development and we are excited to announce a partnership with Drover, the car subscription platform. Through its new subscription model we are able to provide an even wider range of ways to access BMW and MINI vehicles for retail buyers to suit their changing requirements.”

Felix Leuschner, Founder and CEO of Drover, said: “We are incredibly excited to be working with BMW Group UK and very proud to be announcing our partnership, which is a direct outcome of our participation in BMW’s Innovation Lab. Our partnership brings together the latest and best in cars with a new model of ownership to give those demographics access to vehicles who might otherwise not purchase one, driving incremental revenue for BMW Group UK”.

Cars on offer on the scheme start with a MINI Cooper 3-Door Hatch and a BMW 116d Sport and rise through the 2 Series Coupé and X1 up to 4 Series Coupé and 5 Series Saloon and Touring models. Other available vehicles include 2 Series Active Tourer, 2 Series Convertible, 3 Series Saloon and Touring, 4 Series Convertible, X3 and i3.

Pricing for a MINI Cooper 3-door Hatch starts at £562 for a monthly ownership option*, while the same time period for a BMW 116 Sport is £778. In contrast one month of BMW 520d Saloon ownership is £1,076. A full breakdown of pricing is available on the Drover website.

Drover
Drover offers flexible, monthly all-in car subscriptions to its customers, allowing its users to swap, upgrade or downgrade their car monthly payment or just cancel altogether, without any long-term commitment or steep upfront down-payment. Drover provides this service through a marketplace model, providing its 100+ fleet partners with an easy to manage listings and fleet management interface, allowing them to monetise available vehicles effectively on Drover’s platform. Drover launched in January 2016, has handled tens of thousands of vehicle bookings since and has been serially backed by Version One, Forward Partners, Cherry Ventures, Partech and BP Ventures.

*Weekly figure of £131 derived from 52 weeks in the year and an ‘average’ month being 4.3 weeks dividing the monthly charge.

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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. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2016, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.367 million cars and 145,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax was approximately € 9.67 billion on revenues amounting to € 94.16 billion. As of 31 December 2016, the BMW Group had a workforce of 124,729 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.