ekar launches car subscription in region's first 'Self-Drive Super App'

• Subscription cars are door-delivered within twenty-four hours of selection and can be switched, traded up, or returned at any time directly from the ekar App.
• The new Self-Drive Super App offers both carsharing and subscription leasing and enables users to instantly book economy to luxury cars by the minute, day, or week or subscribe to a car for one to nine months.

Dubai; ekar, the Middle East’s first and largest self-drive mobility company, is introducing its new offering ‘ekar Subscription’ in region’s first ‘Self-Drive Super App’.

With ekar Subscription, users can book economy to luxury cars from one to nine months with a single, low monthly subscription cost and no down payments or long-term commitment.

The launch of the Self-Drive Super App, powered by ekar Mobility OS, is further catalyzing ekar’s growth trajectory, with plans to scale operations across Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, and Thailand during 2021.

“Today, with the launch of the self-drive super app, we are happy to announce that users can now access the entire self-drive vertical for cars via a single app, with pay per minute to multiple month subscriptions in partnership with some of the largest car rental and leasing companies on the planet,” said Vilhelm Hedberg, founder of ekar.

“The global pandemic shifted the way people consume transportation, with a focus towards self-drive. Tens of thousands of new members joined ekar post lockdown in search of a safer mobility solution. To meet demand, in November 2020 we launched ‘ekar Fleet’ as part of ekar Mobility OS, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for car rental and leasing companies to rent their own fleet on the ekar platform remotely. This became an instant success, as thousands of cars were committed to the program. ekar Subscription is the next step in responding to the requests of members asking for longer-term self-drive solutions, without the costly commitment of car ownership.”

All cars come with maintenance and roadside assistance and can be switched, traded up, or returned at any time. A user simply selects a desired model on the app and a sterilized car will be door-delivered within 24 hours.

ekar, recognized as the highest utilized free-floating carshare service in the world in 2019, has serviced more than 200,000 customers, and booked an impressive 1.3 million trips in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. ekar is now taking on the global automotive subscription services market, which is set to surpass USD 40 billion by 2026, according to a research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.

-Ends-

For more information:
Nikol Fomina
JES Media
Nikol.fomina@jesmedia.ae  

About ekar:

ekar is the Middle East’s first and largest self-drive mobility company, providing users on-demand access to a network of thousands of car-share and subscription leasing vehicles within its ‘Self-Drive Super App’. ekar’s vision is to improve the way people consume transportation and is achieving scale by SaaS-enabling car rental and leasing companies via ekar’s Mobility OS.

Since its inception in 2016 by its Founder Vilhelm Hedberg, ekar has grown from a 15-vehicle pilot program with Etihad Airways to a multi-country service used by more than 200,000 customers and booked an impressive 1.3 million trips. ekar was the highest utilized free-floating carshare service in the world in 2019, awarded GCC Car Sharing Providers Company of The Year in 2019 by Frost & Sullivan, Top 5 Startups in 2018 by Forbes Middle East, and Founder Vilhelm Hedberg has been crowned SME Leader of the Year 2018 by Arabian Business. For more information, please visit www.ekar.me. 

© Press Release 2021