What needs does Ubeeqo meet?
Benoît Chatelier - Many companies have large, under-optimised car fleets. The car must be one of the company's least well-managed resources: imagine a group with one meeting room per director, or even per senior manager. So we're applying the car-sharing principle to B2B, with a tailor-made offer directly accessible in the company car park. A car will be used between 15 % and 30% in a manual management mode, compared with 60 % to 70 % in a system using highly advanced vehicle allocation algorithms. Our promise is to reduce the size of each customer's fleet by 30 %.
What is the current state of the B2B car-sharing market in France?
B. C. - Unsubsidised car-sharing, launched by traditional car hire companies, is struggling to find its market and therefore its profitability. Some car hire companies have announced their ambitions in the B2B sector, and we are beginning to see them position themselves in certain tenders, but the information and management systems used by the general public are not adapted to business. Competition is much better organised in Germany today. Car-sharing has found its place there more quickly and, between manufacturers and long or short-term hire companies, there are already a dozen or so players. It has been slower to take off in France, perhaps because car management is a little more traditional there. There is enormous scope for progress, and the car-sharing concept is set to be introduced in all companies over the next few years.
Does the change of CarBox's identity to Ubeeqo reflect a diversification of the business?
B. C. - Since the launch of CarBox in 2008, which became Ubeeqo in January 2014, we have developed a more comprehensive car fleet management offering in addition to car sharing. We now offer a new multi-modal platform, the first of its kind, enabling you to book a taxi, short-term hire, a chauffeur-driven vehicle, a motorbike taxi and even a train ticket. We configure access for each employee, and invoicing is done at the end of the month, directly to the employer.
How do you fit into the business travel ecosystem?
B. C. - We complement the services offered by business travel agencies, which work very well for long-distance travel, while short-distance mobility is left to the discretion of employees. With our multimodal platform and car-sharing, we can rationalise short-distance travel, giving companies more control and users more service. They can book a VTC, car-sharing or short-term hire car in three clicks on a smartphone at competitive rates, all without having to take out their credit card and make out an expense claim. The "old-fashioned" way of doing things is over.
