- New mobility service enables customers to rent vehicles from dealers
- Service launches in Italy and Russia, will expand globally next year
Kia has launched a new mobility service, ‘KiaMobility’. To start, it is being launched as a pilot scheme in Italy and Russia.
The dealer-led car usership service allows users to rent vehicles from dealers for just a single day or up to a whole year.
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Kia maintains that ‘KiaMobility’ offers a new mobility option at a time when people are seeking new modes of transportation following the COVID-19 outbreak. The company has developed its own fleet management platform for the mobility service, allowing collective operation of vehicles at the dealership.
The platform is designed to provide personalised service for customers to reserve vehicles of their choice, pay via a mobile app, and visit the dealer for pick-up and drop-off of the vehicles, which undergo ‘thorough sanitation’ to ensure safety.
‘KiaMobility’ is first being launched today at 16 locations through dealerships in Italy and Russia. Following the pilot scheme, Kia plans to expand the service next year in Europe and other regions such as Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Middle East.
Kia announced its shift to become a provider of personalized, customer-centric and sustainable mobility services under the ‘Plan S’ strategy it revealed in January. The plan outlined the company’s intentions to develop a diverse range of mobility services and popularize electric vehicles worldwide.
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By GlobalDataIn August, the company also announced plans to expand partnerships with global mobility companies to meet the diverse needs of its customers worldwide.
In Korea, Kia operates the ‘Kia Flex’ vehicle subscription program, with fleet of up to 200 vehicles available for use. In Europe, the company established ‘WiBLE’ car sharing service in 2018 to enable users to rent and return vehicles at designated locations with its ‘free-floating’ system.
Kia also provided 200 Niro EVs to the car-hailing firm Lyft in North America last year, and the company partnered with companies such as Grab, Ola, and Revv to prepare for changes in the mobility service domain in emerging markets.
