Carsharing and e-hailing versus renting and leasing

The automotive sector is on the move. It is shifting from a product market to a service market and more and more coalescing with the IT sector. The three big trends are connected cars, mobility services and especially Autonomous Vehicles (AV, robocars).
Once robocars have reached a significant market share, as it is predicted* beginning in about 10 years, they will be a major game changer in the automotive sector. New business models will come to be. Through robocars the differences between carsharing, e-hailing and ridesharing will evaporate.

The integration of AVs in new mobility services such as e-hailing or carsharing will lead to a paradigm shift. AVs will be very conducive to the business model of carsharing and e-hailing by reducing the operating costs for carsharing fleets and new mobility service providers. This will lead to a greater utilization of new mobility services and could offer the opportunity to make these services also accessible in smaller cities or rural areas.
Nevertheless, car sales won’t nosedive immediately. A study of Boston Consulting Group* calculates lost sales of 792.000 cars. Additionally, there is a further car sale for Carsharing fleets. So, in net terms that means a worldwide loss of 546.000 cars and 7.400.000.000$ sales revenue in 2021.
Also it is a fact that mobility behavior is changing continuously as it gets less and less important to own a car any more. Also, classical, inflexible leasing models will belong to the past as they will be competing with “flexible-ad hoc-short term leasing”, which is no more than what we actually call carsharing. Sharing, renting, leasing - the differences will also evaporate, but buying a car will get more and more an oldschool model.
Therefore, it is important for the automotive industry to develop new innovative leasing models. For example, to offer several vehicle options in one leasing period. So the customer can choose the right vehicle for the appropriate situation.
Especially the millennials living the sharing philosophy tend to not owning a car. Also known as ‘digital natives’, they are the target group for AV mobility services. So, it is recommendable for automotives to start presenting  their innovative leasing models to early adopters and at the same time to cooperate with tech companies and new mobility start-ups.
All in all, AVs in combination with new mobility services will be a serious threat or – seen from the other side- a new chance for the automotive industry. Especially AV e-hailing will be very attractive because operating costs are lower and it will be less complicated to organize parking. Nevertheless, there is still a crucial factor for the development of these services: legislation. At the moment, legal regulations such as the passenger transportation licence prevent disrupting success of e-hailing services in many European cities. In London, on the contrary, the car traffic decreased by 30 percent after introducing the city toll while it is one of the lead cities of uber counting 500.000 users.