On Wednesday 7 November, the European Commission conditionally approved the creation of six joint ventures between Daimler and BMW, under EU rules on mergers.
The two car builders notified their plans to the Commission on 17 September. The operation will bring together the companies' mobility services in five business fields: free-floating car sharing, ride-hailing, parking services, charging services and on-demand mobility services. A sixth joint venture will manage the brands and licence them out.
The Commission noted first of all that the project may raise competition concerns for car sharing in Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna. It also considered that the operation as initially structured could have the effect of removing providers of integrator apps offering transport solutions, particularly car sharing, from the market.
In order to respond to the Commission's concerns, the companies offered to provide access to their programming interface to mobility solutions provider platforms and access to Daimler's 'moovel' integrator app to interested car sharing service providers.
The institution then considered that the companies' commitments would allow smaller competitors to enter the market in the six cities in question, whilst being visible on the 'moovel' app, and would allow integrator apps to offer the car sharing services of the two companies.
Subject to full compliance with these commitments, the Commission therefore gave the operation blessing. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)