An elegy for Car2Go, the smarter Zipcar rival that lost its way

The first mainstream smartphone-optimized car-sharing service will soon roll into the junkyard. Car2Go announced Wednesday that it would exit North America Feb. 29.

The Daimler-owned company, which was in the midst of rebranding itself as Share Now after a minority investment by BMW, vaguely blamed the move on “the volatile state of the global mobility landscape.” It also cited “rising infrastructure complexities facing North American transportation.” (Read: Higher operating expenses and not enough electric-car charging stations, the latter problem having propelled its 2016 exit from San Diego).

The move will erase a convenient option for point-to-point travel in Car2Go’s remaining U.S. and Canadian cities: Chicago, New York, Seattle, and Washington, plus Montreal and Vancouver. It had backed out of Austin, Portland, Denver, and Calgary at the end of October.
More>>