Silvercar is an airport car rental company founded in 2012. The company enables the customer to bypass lines, avoid complexity and frustration, and drive away in a world-class car at a great price. How does it work? The first thing the customer needs to do is download the Silvercar app for iPhone or Android. Then, he reserves his rental car which can be unlocked by using the app. Once he’s finished, he can drop the car back and his receipt will be instantly emailed.
According to Tech Crunch, Silvercar’s fleet is already made up exclusively of Audi A4 cars, which means that it’s not exactly going to be a dramatic upheaval in terms of Silvercar’s offering. With the previously invested $28 million, Silvercar boosted their North American presence to 15 different airport locations.
On top of increasing the growth of Silvercar’s core operations, Audi plans to expand their mobility services offerings in the U.S. market in general. They already have their own service called Audi on Demand in certain markets in the U.S., which provides white glove-short term rentals to travelers on-demand. With the acquisition of Silvercar, Audi is trying to find a shortcut for accelerating their mobility plans, and possibly for giving them a central brand around which to coalesce.
As reported by Cnet, Matt Carpenter, chief financial officer for Audi of America said in a statement that both Audi and Silvercar share a vision for the future of transportation. Audi hopes that with the use of Silvercar’s tech platform, they are going to enhance their own offerings since the system is focusing on managing transportation products and services.
This is not Audi’s first foray into the world of mobility services. They are currently running a pilot program for Audi Shared Fleet, which is essentially a car-sharing system that offers up several 2017 Audi A4 vehicles for use. The testing started in late 2016 in North Carolina, and it’s expected to expand across the country this year.
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