Europcar has become Europcar Mobility Group, adopting a new name and brand identity to reflect its transformation.

Since 2014, Europcar says it has undertaken an in-depth transformation by growing faster at an international level, addressing new car rental use cases and diversifying its activities beyond the historical car rental business.

From a car rental specialist, the Group has become a global provider of mobility solutions, offering a wide range of services: car rental, van and truck rental, chauffeur services, car sharing and peer-to-peer car-sharing.

“Our customers’ expectations and needs are rapidly evolving, and we all know now that the traditional model of owning a car doesn’t fit-for-all anymore,” said Caroline Parot, Europcar Mobility Group CEO.  

“Furthermore, thanks to technology and digital innovation, there are now many other smart and cost-effective solutions to get from one point to another, and that’s what really matters for people.

“In this context, there is a clear need for global mobility providers, making people’s lives easier. We are convinced that we are in a very good position to play our role as a leader in this paradigm shift. We want to be the preferred ‘Mobility Service Company’ by offering attractive alternative solutions to vehicle ownership.

“Considering the identified market needs and our main strengths – among which are a comprehensive worldwide network and renowned expertise in fleet management – we believe that fulfilling this mission will allow us to sustainably create value and growth.”

In the past few years, the Group’s growth strategy has been specifically addressed with a number of acquisitions, including Ubeeqo, a European start-up specialised in car-sharing, and Brunel, a provider of chauffeur services. More recently, the Group also bought Scooty, a scooter-sharing start-up.

The Group also took minority investments in Snappcar, the second largest international peer-to-peer car-sharing player in Europe, and Wanderio, a multimodal search and comparison platform.

In addition to its investments in new mobility solutions, the Group continues to strengthen its original vehicle rental expertise, aiming at better answering all customers’ needs whatever the budget and the usage.

In 2017, this commitment was underlined by the acquisition of Goldcar, the low-cost car rental leader in Europe, and Buchbinder, one of the major vehicle rental leaders in Germany.

In the context of its accelerating transformation, with a richer and more diverse brand portfolio, the name Europcar Mobility Group has been selected as the perfect expression of the Group’s goals.

Parot said: “We needed a name that brought to life the transformation of the Group for our future developments, using the strength of our historical business and our number one position in vehicle rental.

“The name Europcar Mobility Group capitalises on the Europcar brand, whilst also providing the mobility context for future acquisitions.

“We also want to trigger a new mind-set in the company: we want our employees to feel part of a wider group; a group that is very well positioned for the future.”

The change of the Group’s name was approved during the Group’s Annual Shareholders Meeting that took place on May 17 2018.

The new Group name will be rolled out over the next few months. 

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