The question the auto manufacturer Peugeot has been asking themselves lately: How can a mid-tier carmaker like us survive in the Uber age?
While not known for best in quality, performance or innovation, Peugeot is making moves toward a shared mobility vision with the launch of Free2Move, a new brand for new mobility solutions.
What is Free2Move?
In response to the growing use of carsharing services in what is called the “Uber age,” Peugeot launched Free2Move as its mobility and smart services brand.
This brand will develop sustainable, smart, safe and shared mobility solutions for everyone, uniting all of the PSA Group’s new mobility solutions to provide a full spectrum of consumers’ transport needs including:
- Free2Move Car Sharing – car sharing services run by the Group
- Free2Move Smart Services – connected services to make life easier and save time
- Free2Move Fleet Sharing and Free2Move Fleet Management – corporate fleet services
- Free2Move Lease – financial solutions to make vehicles more affordable
This is an additional service to align with the PSA Group’s foundational strategy:
“To make excellent vehicles available by supplying mobility services that are adapted to customers’ needs: mobility is at the heart of the Groupe PSA’ strategy.”
Why did Peugeot launch Free2Move?
Simply put: to stay alive. Carlos Tavares, the chief executive of France’s Groupe PSA, simply stated about the 207 year old company: “We are dinosaurs. And if we don’t want to disappear like dinosaurs, we have to operate in a different way.”
The goal? PSA would like to turn occasional car buyers into lifetime transportation subscribers through its Free2Move service, which aims to be a single, worldwide app supporting everything from car sharing and leasing to corporate-fleet management. Importantly, Free2Move will not be limited to PSA’s brands, and it is the Trojan horse for Tavares’ plans to reenter the American market, where PSA hasn’t sold cars for 26 years.
What we love about this move
In a fast-paced, changing industry it can become a “do or die” scenario, and we love what Peugeot is doing with Free2Move for several reasons:
- While this middle-tier carmaker will still be limited by restrictions like being able to afford new engines and electric-vehicle platforms, they are making a move in the right direction of the future and may be able to become a front-runner in the growing shared mobility space.
- Instead of operating localized carsharing services, Free2Move aims to provide a single app that lets you book a car from any provider, anywhere in the world.
- This Free2Move launch is not monopolized by men, but instead involves many women leading the movement, which is about as far from the dinosaur auto industry as it gets!
Learn more about Peugeot’s future vision here.
Interested in keeping up with the Uber age yourself? Click here to inquire about our available carsharing and shared mobility information downloads.
