Zipcar to control Spain’s largest car sharing operator

Zipcar, a leading car sharing network, has announced the exercise of its option to purchase a majority ownership interest in Barcelona-based Catalunya Carsharing, known as Avancar. The company operates a fleet of vehicles throughout the cities of Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Valles. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2012, and builds on Zipcar's initial equity investment in Avancar in December 2009. With this transaction, Zipcar increases its percentage ownership in Avancar to a controlli
March 27, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
3874 Zipcar, a leading car sharing network, has announced the exercise of its option to purchase a majority ownership interest in Barcelona-based Catalunya Carsharing, known as Avancar. The company operates a fleet of vehicles throughout the cities of Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Valles.

The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2012, and builds on Zipcar's initial equity investment in Avancar in December 2009. With this transaction, Zipcar increases its percentage ownership in Avancar to a controlling stake of 60 per cent.

"We expect Barcelona to be a top tier car sharing city in the years to come and a key part of our developing network of European cities,” said Scott Griffith, Chairman and CEO of Zipcar. “With the integration of our acquired UK operations completed, we have shifted our focus to expanding our European reach. Overall car sharing adoption remains strong, and we look forward to entering new markets in both Europe and North America while also continuing to drive member growth and usage in existing metro areas and universities.”

Avancar Carsharing was the first car sharing operator in Spain, and has been offering cars per hour or per day in Barcelona and its metropolitan area since 2005. The company operates a fleet of vehicles throughout the cities of Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Valles. The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, allowing reservations to be made online or by telephone up to five minutes before the start of one's trip.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Hurdles to MaaS adoption highlighted
    January 25, 2018
    Jack Opiola talks to some MaaS advocates in the US. Cities will accommodate almost 60% of the world’s population by 2025 and technology is outpacing transportation plans and planners - putting extreme pressures upon planners and transportation systems alike. Big data, digital payments, ubiquitous communications, smartphone applications, on-demand travel and autonomous vehicles are all shredding existing transport plans. Never before has the pace of population growth and the tools to address this problem
    Read More
  • Speed cameras - road safety benefits
    October 17, 2014
    The 2014 speed camera review by the New South Wales Centre for Road Safety shows that speed cameras continue to deliver positive road safety benefits. A total of 95 fixed speed camera locations were reviewed, with 93 locations shown to be effective from the initial analysis. This positive result shows the review, now in its third year, has systematically identified ineffective fixed speed cameras for decommissioning. Overall at these fixed speed camera locations, there was a 42 per cent reduction in the
    Read More
  • IoT fleet management market to grow by more than 20 per cent by 2021
    April 24, 2017
    A new report by MarketsandMarkets estimates that the Internet of Things (IoT) fleet management market will grow fromUS$3.16 billion in 2016 to US$8.28 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 21.26 per cent. According to the report, the key factors driving the growth of the IoT fleet management market are increased demand for optimised business operations, real-time fleet monitoring and a growing number of government mandates for fleet safety. Routing management accounted for the largest share of the IoT fleet managem
    Read More
  • Investment in pedestrian, cycling initiatives pays off
    June 30, 2014
    Five years after the Non-motorised Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP) was established to measure the impact of investment in walking and cycling initiatives, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has reported a 22.8 per cent increase in walking and a 48.3 per cent increase in cycling, while an estimated 85.1 million vehicle miles were avoided. The NTPP provided approximately US$25 million each to four pilot communities (Columbia, Missouri; Marin County, California; Minneapolis area, Minnesota; an
    Read More

Highlighted Content