Dubai, United Arab Emirates: – ekar, the Middle East's first and largest personal mobility company, is launching operations in Thailand starting with Bangkok in January 2022, followed by other cities later in the year. 

Thailand has been on restrictive lockdowns and curfews since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and is currently lifting restrictions. As a beachhead strategy, ekar is launching its proprietary car subscription service which offers cars from one to nine-month terms for a single monthly subscription cost with no down payments or long-term commitments via the ekar app. ekar will be introducing its peer-to-peer carsharing services later in 2022.

“We are very excited to place our first footprint in Southeast Asia. Bangkok is an incredibly exciting opportunity, a city with a high smartphone penetration yet limited tech-enabled self-drive mobility options. Bangkok has eight times more cars and motorbikes than can be properly accommodated on its roads. ekar’s subscription and peer-to-peer carsharing services will allow residents and tourists to have access to affordable 4-wheeled mobility, whilst reducing the overall number of cars on the roads,” comments Vilhelm Hedberg, Founder, ekar.

All ekar Subscription cars, which are tech-enabled cars from existing fleet owners and car rental companies, come with insurance, maintenance, and roadside assistance and can be switched, traded up, or returned at any time. A user simply selects a desired model on the ekar app and a sterilised car is  door-delivered within a 2 hour window.

ekar’s peer-to-peer carsharing allows individuals to rent their own cars out to the general public, and earn money. This form of mobility, like subscription, will put a halt to the need to buy a car.

Since its inception in 2016 by Founder Vilhelm Hedberg, ekar has grown from a 15-vehicle pilot program with Etihad Airways to a multi-country service used by more than 250,000 customers and booked an impressive 1.5 million trips. ekar operates in UAE and KSA, and is launching Thailand and Malaysia imminently, with Egypt and Turkey launches scheduled for later in 2022.

-Ends-

About ekar:

ekar is the Middle East's first and largest personal mobility company, providing users on-demand access to a network of thousands of carshare 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 MaaS-enabling car rental and leasing companies as well as peer-to-peer rentals  via ekar's Mobility OS.

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 

Send us your press releases to pressrelease.zawya@refinitiv.com

© Press Release 2021

Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release.

The press release is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Neither this website nor our affiliates shall be liable for any errors or inaccuracies in the content, or for any actions taken by you in reliance thereon. You expressly agree that your use of the information within this article is at your sole risk.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, this website, its parent company, its subsidiaries, its affiliates and the respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, advertisers, content providers and licensors will not be liable (jointly or severally) to you for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation, lost profits, lost savings and lost revenues, whether in negligence, tort, contract or any other theory of liability, even if the parties have been advised of the possibility or could have foreseen any such damages.