BMW is Global Company of the Year

 * i3 and i8 Concept, AlphaCity, DriveNow, ParkNow and i Ventures tackling mobility challenges *  

Frost & Sullivan has recognised BMW AG with the 2013 Global Company of the Year award based on its recent analysis of the new mobility products and services market.
Cars like the BMW i3 and i8 electric vehicle concepts and services like AlphaCity, DriveNow and ParkNow represent the future of mobility designed by BMW and its partners to complement each other and mark significant strides towards a future of fully integrated mobility solutions.
“The company has displayed effective leadership in customer value with its wide range of innovative and customised solutions, ranging from integrated mobility solutions to flexible usage models,” commended Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Shwetha Surender.
Apart from growing the traditional fleet business, BMW’s multi-make fleet division Alphabet has focused its efforts on corporate car sharing and short term rentals.
The car sharing programme DriveNow expanded into North America in August 2012 and allows customers to locate and reserve the nearest car using the DriveNow app and unlock the car using a digital key incorporated in the driver’s license. The ParkNow app allows customers to search and pay for parking spaces using their cell phones.
“The combination of online reservations and contact-less chip cards has made car sharing easy, efficient and profitable, while global system for mobile communications (GSM) facilitates efficient billing and rapid identification of vehicle location,” the Munich-based carmaker said.
Recognising the need to develop smart technology further, it has also established a venture capital company – BMW i Ventures – with a corpus of $100 mln to promote mobile apps and mobile technology as part of a long term growth strategy within the new mobility products and services market.