Homegrown car-sharing platform Tribecar announced today (March 3) that its owners — which includes its founders and other people — have acquired Singapore’s first car-sharing operator Car Club, dubbing it the “biggest buyout in the local car-sharing scene”.
Founded in 1997 as NTUC Income’s car-sharing co-operative, Car Club was acquired by a Japanese company Mitsui & Co. in 2016, which later entered a joint venture with another Japanese company WILLERS Pte Ltd.
According to Tribecar, this acquisition is part of its efforts to expand and enhance its existing services and offerings. Both companies also have a “shared mission to advance the state of sustainable mobility in Singapore,” said Adrian Lee, co-founder of Tribecar.
“The onboarding of Car Club, a pioneer in the mobility industry, further solidifies our leading position in Singapore’s car-sharing space. We can now advance our platform strategy and strengthen our end-to-end transactional capabilities by leveraging on Car Club’s award-winning customer support services to improve on the overall experience for our customers,” he added.
Lewis Chen, general manager of Car Club, also shared that they will now have “more resources” to develop their car-sharing technology arm for businesses and corporations in region.
Post-acquisition, Car Club will continue to serve its existing customers. Members from both Car Club and Tribecar will also get to enjoy new services and features that are currently offered exclusively on the platforms.
“This includes various subscription plans, corporate programmes, an array of premium luxury car options and a wider class of transport alternatives such as motorcycles, cars, vans and lorries that ranges from hourly bookings to monthly subscriptions and leasing,” said Tribecar in its media statement.
The combined entity will offer Tribecar and Car Club members access to a fleet of over 1,400 vehicles islandwide in the coming weeks. Tribecar currently has over 950 vehicles currently but with the acquisition, it will now be the largest car-sharing platform in Singapore.
Members can also expect an expedition of developments in the mobile app including an upgrade for quicker turnaround and enhanced automation through AI and machine learning.
Featured Image Credit: Tribecar