Ekar, the largest car share company in the Middle East, has added 100 Chevrolet Spark hatchbacks to its fleet in the United Arab Emirates.
The company took delivery of the vehicles this week and will deploy them onto UAE streets shortly. In a statement, Ekar co-founder and CEO Vilhelm Hedberg said the car share company is “thrilled to have the Chevrolet Spark, such a convenient practical and parking-friendly nameplate, join our fleet,” and said the partnership with Chevrolet will help it “deliver on our mission to give users a better experience every day and we are confident the Chevrolet Spark will quickly become a very popular member of our fleet.”
Ekar is the first car share application available in the Middle East and is currently active in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Founded in 2016, the service allows motorists in the UAE and Saudi Arabi the option to rent a vehicle on a per-minute basis. Additionally, Ekar allows them to rent vehicles by the day, week or month, differentiating it from a point-to-point car-sharing service like Daimler’s Share Now, formerly known as Car 2 Go, or a traditional rental service.
“When we launched ekar, we had a simple vision in mind, a vision to facilitate users’ commutes through a seamless platform allowing them to get around the city any time they want without going through the lengthy process of a traditional car rental service,” added Hedberg.
Luay Al Shurafa, managing director of commercial operations at General Motors Africa and Middle East, said the partnership with Ekar will allow the company to “leverage the advantages linked to car-sharing and [help] reduce unnecessary congestion.” The automaker did not say if it will access Ekar data as part of the partnership, though car-sharing data is valuable to automakers, as it can provide a clear picture of how and when people are using such mobility services.
“We are very excited to see 100 Chevrolet Spark vehicles join the fleet of such a modern, convenient and flexible carshare operator. At General Motors, we are continuously working on innovative solutions moving us closer to our global vision for a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion,” added Al Shurafa.
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