The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2016–2019
BMW shut ReachNow overnight — 1,000 cars and 100,000 members handed to car2go
BMW shut its ReachNow car-sharing service with hours' notice in 2019, redirecting 100,000 members to car2go — the rival brand inside BMW's own joint venture.
ReachNow · BMW · Daimler · 2019-07
What happened
ReachNow launched in Seattle in 2016 as BMW's free-floating car-sharing service and expanded to Portland, with a brief Brooklyn stint that ended in May 2018. Membership grew at least 25% a year, reaching more than 100,000 users across a fleet of 1,000 cars — 750 of them on Seattle streets. It was not yet profitable.
In February 2019 BMW and Daimler merged their mobility businesses into a $1 billion joint venture. In July's realignment, car-sharing was consolidated under SHARE NOW — the combined car2go and DriveNow — while ReachNow was merged with the Moovel transit app into a 'REACH NOW' platform business. There was no longer a role for BMW's own car-sharing brand in North America.
On 17 July 2019 ReachNow stopped service in Seattle and Portland effective immediately. Its 75 employees were told hours before the announcement; there was no plan for the cars, which were moved to temporary lots — about 90% were off the streets within two weeks. Members were told to sign up with car2go; anyone who had joined after 1 June got their sign-up fee back.
Why it happened
- The brand was an org-chart casualty: once BMW pooled mobility into a joint venture, ReachNow overlapped with the JV's car-sharing arm and was deleted rather than merged with it.
- Growth never bought time: 25% annual membership growth and 100,000 users could not offset the logic of running one car-sharing fleet per joint venture.
- No exit plan: employees learned hours ahead, and the fleet had to be improvised into parking lots because shutdown was an announcement, not an operation.
The lesson
Ventures die at reorg time, not market time. ReachNow was growing 25% a year when a joint-venture reshuffle deleted its reason to exist — growth metrics don't survive org charts.
Aftermath
Members were redirected to car2go, which ran in both cities. Founding CEO Steve Banfield called the shutdown a missed opportunity that a direct merger with car2go could have avoided.
Sources
- GeekWire, 17 July 2019 — BMW ReachNow car-sharing service shuts down in Seattle and Portland following joint venture deal (service ceased 17 July 2019; 1,000 free-floating vehicles; 100,000+ members; Brooklyn ended 2018; car-sharing consolidated under SHARE NOW; members directed to car2go; 75 employees and contractors affected)
- GeekWire, 2019 — Inside the abrupt shutdown of BMW's ReachNow car-sharing service (launched 2016, 25%+ annual membership growth; 750 of 1,000 cars in Seattle; BMW–Daimler $1B YOUR NOW joint venture, February 2019; 75 staff told hours before announcement; no disposal plan for the fleet; founding CEO Steve Banfield: not yet profitable, a missed opportunity)
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 2019 — ReachNow car-sharing program stops service in Seattle, effective immediately (100,000+ members affected; members urged to sign up for car2go; sign-up fee refunds for members who joined after 1 June)
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