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Car2go carsharing service will debut in Rome in mid-March

When in Rome, folks can start using Daimler's Car2go car-sharing service. The Mercedes-Benz parent says its car-sharing fleet of Smart Fortwo two-seaters will be available in the Italian capital starting mid-March. Upon the debut, about 300 cars will be available, with another 200 added by April. Lessons in Italian driving gestures will not be included.

Still, the service appears to have been well-received in Italy, as Car2go made its Italian debut in Milan just this past August. The Rome service, which is technically a joint-venture between Car2go and Europcar, covers about 40 square miles and costs 29 euro cents (about 40 cents US) per minute. The company says it will provide the city's first car-sharing service in which the vehicle can be picked up and dropped off at different locations.

With Rome on board, Car2go is available in 26 global cities, including London, Berlin, Vienna and Munich. Car2go has a fleet of 10,500 vehicles (including 1,200 Smart Fortwo ED electric vehicles) and services more than 600,000 customers worldwide. Car2go debuted in Ulm, Germany in 2008 and started US service in Austin, Texas in the fall of 2009. The service became available in Montreal last October. Check out Car2go's press release on its Rome chapter below.
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car2go starts in Rome

Launch in mid-March with initially 300 out of a total of 500 smart fortwos in a business area of around 100 square kilometers
Possibility of access to traffic-calmed downtown
With Rome, car2go is now present in 26 European and North American cities

Ciao Roma! car2go launches in Rome: car2go, the pioneer and market leader in the field of short-duration A to B car rental, is launching its service in the Italian capital in mid-March with 300 smart fortwos.

car2go, the pioneer and market leader in the field of short-duration A to B car rental, is launching its service in the Italian capital in mid-March with 300 smart fortwos. An increase to 500 vehicles is already scheduled for April 2014. Following the great success in Milan, Rome is car2go's second city on the Italian market. Rome is the fifth European capital to benefit from flexible car-sharing with car2go.

"Rome is the city of the smart and the perfect place for the compact two-seater. With car2go, we are bringing the success story of flexible car-sharing to Rome," comments Thomas Beermann, Managing Director of car2go Europe GmbH, enthusiastically on the new launch. "The ideal combination of lifestyle and functionality comes across very well in Italy. This is demonstrated by the outstanding success of car2go in Milan. And, for this very reason, we feel sure that Rome, too, will take car2go to its heart as a novel, uncomplicated, low-cost and environmentally friendly form of transport."

car2go is initially launching with a fleet of 300 environmentally compatible smart fortwo mhd vehicles in a business area of around 100 square kilometers including downtown Rome and numerous other districts of the Italian capital. April will see the addition of 200 further vehicles. There was previously no A to B car-sharing service in Rome. The launch in Rome underlines car2go's role as the leading car-sharing brand in Europe and North America.

The rental fee of 29 euro cents per minute includes the Rome city center congestion charge (zone "ZTL"), making car2go even more attractive as a private mobility option. The smart fortwos can be rented from any location, independently of fixed rental stations, and dropped off after use at any public parking space. In Rome, this includes not only vacant parking spaces, but also Blue Zone areas, i.e. all managed parking areas. car2go is operated in Italy by car2go Europe GmbH, a joint venture between car2go and Europcar, Europe's largest car rental company.

Customers can now register online at www.car2go.com, in the car2go shop at Cipro subway station and at four additional registration offices, including at three shops of Rome's local public transport operator ATAC. All transactions are billed in Rome by credit card.

As the world's first fully flexible car rental system for metropolitan areas, car2go is the global market leader in the field of A to B car-sharing. The two-seater is currently available for use in 26 European and North American cities. The launch in Rome brings the total number of car2go vehicles to 10,500, including around 1200 with battery-powered drive, with well over 600,000 customers worldwide having so far used the service. Significantly more than one million fully automated rental transactions with car2go are completed every month.

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