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This part-time car-sharing concept is about more than just how often a car is on the road; it also describes a whole new consumer culture focused on borrowing instead of buying, and using instead of owning. Thanks to the mobile Web, the share culture is expanding into more and more areas, from apartments to food and even money. Tina Müller, Vice President & CMO Opel Group, recognized this trend, and at the official launch of the car-sharing app on 24 June – which garnered plenty of attention from the press – she described CarUnity as being a project “close to her heart.” The application, which was developed by a start-up of sorts, offers car owners throughout Germany the chance to earn money by renting their vehicles to people in their area. Dr. Jan Wergin, Director Opel Community Carsharing, explains the nuts and bolts for Opel Post.

Dr. Wergin, other brands have built up their own rental fleets in large cities, but Opel is choosing to focus on private car sharing instead. Why is that?
Simply providing a rental fleet is shortsighted. Just look around. There are more than enough cars, but infrastructures are limited. For us the goal is to create a platform that helps to use existing cars more efficiently. Statistically speaking, every car in Germany is parked for 23 hours a day. That’s what we want to change.

Opel welcomes cars of all different brands. What is the reason behind this idea?
We see ourselves as a mobility service provider, so the logical conclusion is that we open up our new app to all brands. On top of that, younger people don’t pay nearly as much attention to brands anymore.

CarUnity launched on 24 June. When do you think the concept will really start to take off?
There are already 500 vehicles registered in the Rhine-Main region, so it’s all ready to go. It was of great help that our mobility partner, Opel Rent, cooperated with the Opel brand dealers to provide us with gorgeous new Opel vehicles at the beginning of the project. Our concept has one major advantage: Unlike traditional rental fleets, we don’t have to build up our network gradually over time. The app is already available to users throughout Germany. The car-sharing community can already start to grow, no matter whether users are located in the city or the country.

People have a very special relationship to their cars. It’s not always easy for people to lend out their ‘baby.’
That’s true, and that’s where the term ‘social car sharing’ comes into play. Imagine this: Instead of lending your car to complete strangers, you lend it to people you know, people you trust, like Facebook friends or neighbors. And there’s another important detail: We have also conducted surveys on this specific topic, and it turns out that men are far more willing to lend their apartment to strangers than they are to lend out their car. The opposite tends to be true for women.

PERSONAL BIO
Dr. Jan Wergin (47) joined Opel last year as Director Opel Community Carsharing for CarUnity. He headed up the development of the app through a startup-like company based in Berlin. Wergin, who holds a PhD in philosophy, has also held leading positions at ImmobilienScout 24, Bigpoint, Vodafone, Microsoft, Lycos, and StudiVZ.

How is CarUnity being marketed?
Since the beginning, we’ve been running a number of radio ads in which second cars – the ones not used as the main family hauler – complain about just sitting around all day when they could be earning money. They are great ads! We also have posters at prominent transportation hubs such as major train stations, and we go to locations where we know we can reach young people, such as college campuses and social media platforms.

How does Opel stand to benefit from car sharing?
The motto of our CarUnity campaign is ‘Better off sharing.’ This project not only represents an important innovation, it also demonstrates social responsibility. It is another step for Opel in the process of transforming from an automotive manufacturer into a mobility service provider. And it’s important to remember that car sharing is fun. You get to know new people and make new contacts. I am looking forward to the first positive reviews for CarUnity.

Have you put up your car on CarUnity?
Of course! My Cascada is available for €50 a day. My colleagues who put their cars on offer during the test phase had the chance to take a spin around the block in classic Opel models and fellow board members. That just goes to show how many opportunities CarUnity provides. You can spend a weekend in the countryside with an Opel Kapitän or borrow a Vivaro for a move. Everything is fast and simple, and car sharing is cheaper than renting.

WORKING TOGETHER WITH FLINC
This project is also strengthening ties with Opel ridesharing network flinc. Starting in 2016, flinc will be providing a technical platform for CarUnity that also enables users to organize ridesharing using the new car sharing app. A few months ago, the number of flinc users saw a dramatic rise. The network now has 630 active users, and there were nearly 3,000 rides shared in June alone.