Will PSA Group Bring Its Carshare Lease Offerings to the U.S.?

PSA Group launched Free2Move Carsharing in Los Angeles last week, positioning the French manufacturer to bring its leasing and fleet management services to the U.S.

This launch marks PSA Group’s entrance of mobility services into the U.S. The automaker also announced its new U.S. division called PSA North America —– which aims to develop mobility solutions, such as carsharing, with PSA’s cars before marketing the vehicles directly in North America.

The carsharing service — offered in partnership with car rental and parking provider Travelcar — was made available to riders at the Los Angeles airport on April 3, but the manufacturer has a “larger deployment” planned for the U.S., according to a company press release.

PSA Group’s mobility brand Free2Move was launched in September 2016, “in response to the major shifts taking place in society and the emergence of new collaborative ways of using transport,” according to the release.

The brand unites all of the PSA Group’s new mobility solutions, including Free2Move Carsharing; Free2Move Smart Services (connected car services); Free2Move Fleet Sharing and Free2Move Fleet Management; and Free2Move Lease (financial solutions to make vehicles more affordable).

Free2Move Carsharing was first piloted in select European countries in September 2016. The program aggregates existing carsharing companies on one platform.

Free2Move Lease offers leasing to business customers — including carshare services. It currently operates in France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with further European expansion planned.

While it is unclear whether Free2Move Lease will provide leasing opportunities for the Los Angeles market, given the automaker’s intent to enter the U.S., it appears likely that region will be Free2Move Lease’s next expansion.

“With the creation of PSA North American entity, PSA Group makes an important step forward in the roll-out of our project to progressively enter the region,” Carlos Tavares, PSA Group’s chairman of the managing board, said in the release. “Moving forward, we will ramp up our mobility activities and the development of carsharing services, among other efforts.”

PSA Group did not comment by press time.

Those interested in learning more about the evolution of the transportation industry should join us at the second annual Auto Finance Innovation 2017 conference, May 17-18 at the Hilton Bayfront in San Diego.