Nissan Launching Carsharing Service In Paris At End Of Year

Joining the likes of Daimler and GM, Nissan will be launching its own carsharing service — dubbed Nissan Intelligent Get & Go Micra — in Paris at the end of the year.

The cars are expected to be delivered in April. To explain that … the carsharing service will function rather differently than the typical Zipcar-like business model does. Instead of simply paying a service subscription fee and gaining access to the service fleet, the Nissan Intelligent Get & Go Micra carsharing service will be a literal sharing of a single car by multiple people.

In other words, it’s like a time-share property, but for cars.

Here’s the interesting part, though, this small group of people that will be sharing a single car isn’t arbitrary but is decided upon through the use of a matching service that examines the driving needs, locations, etc., of those wanting to take part in the service.

So, everything being ideal, this would mean that you would have access to the car when you need, and not when you don’t, and the same would hold true for the other carshare participants.

I love the sound of that, but there are no doubt some potential issues that may arise. I’ll be very interested to see how the service does over time. Too many mistakes, and people who are bad at sharing? Will the small user/owner group numbers mean that the cars are much better cared for than would otherwise be the case? Or will there usually be a “lowest common denominator” that drags things down?

A couple of other things about the service: the new Micra subcompacts that will be used for the service will be paid for proportionally, meaning that those who use the most pay the most; these costs automatically include servicing and insurance; and, there is a annual mileage cap of ~9,320 miles (15,000 kilometers).