#Zipcar return to different location plus

Rather than curtail innovation, the Avis acquisition might provide a soft landing that allows Zipcar to think big again. Zipcar had only two month’s operating cash on hand as of its September 2012 close. After a successful IPO in April 2011 – another watershed moment – Zipcar’s stock initially rose to $31.50, but tumbled after continued losses, closing at just $8.24 before the Avis announcement. What might be the societal and environmental impacts?Ī final report summarizing the findings will be published later in 2013.Īlthough Zipcar’s 760,000 members account impressively for nearly half of global car-sharing members, the company has never turned an annual profit since its founding in 2000. How should car sharing systems be designed? What are the main barriers and opportunities to implementation? What is the current state of the car sharing industry in developing countries? This project aims to answer the following questions: The team recently conducted focus groups with potential and existing car sharing users in Hangzhou, China and Bangalore, India. In 2012, the research team conducted expert interviews with dozens of operators, mobility experts, and policy makers around the world. While Zipcar has innovated at the margin – recently introducing moving vans, a new mobile app, and some electric vehicles – it is no longer the world-changing role model that defines the cutting edge of “what could be.”ĮMBARQ, the WRI Center for Sustainable Transport, has been researching the feasibility of “car sharing in developing countries,”a project sponsored by Volkswagen. The truth is that Zipcar took its foot off the innovation pedal long ago, in favor of its race for scale and elusive profitability. Given the counter-cultural success of car sharing, what should we make of Zipcar’s acquisition by a staple of the auto industry? Is Zipcar’s purchase by the “big guys” the greatest success of car sharing, or its ultimate failure in the “real world” of grown-up companies and mainstream culture? Will synergies with Avis lead to game-changing innovations – the type that propelled Zipcar to trend-setting stardom – or spell the end for car sharing? Impact of Acquisition Launching in Cambridge, Mass., with a handful of lime-green Volkswagen Beetles, the feisty start-up pioneered early innovation, catalyzed massive scale-up around the world, and helped inspire a whole movement toward shared access to everything from houses to bicycles to parking spaces-and even pets. Zipcar has been at the forefront of this transformation. Each shared vehicle in North America has been shown to replace nine to 13 personal cars, and reduce driving by an average of 44 percent – as members pocket the savings and choose to walk, bike, and take public transit. Membership exceeds one in five adults in many urban neighborhoods from Montreal to San Francisco. and Canadian city.Ĭar sharing has made an indelible mark on how we live in cities.

#Zipcar return to different location plus

Yet today Zipcar, plus dozens of innovative start-ups like City CarShare, Phill圜arShare, I-Go, and CommunAuto, have grown into robust community assets in every major U.S. What will it mean for car sharing?īarely 10 years ago, no one knew whether car sharing could even work in North America, let alone become a staple of trendy and pragmatic urban living. Zipcar’s $500 million acquisition by Avis-Budget Group announced last Wednesday is a watershed moment for the car-sharing industry.