Car companies are becoming micromobility companies

Our prediction has been that car companies of today will need to become micromobility firms to survive is slowly becoming true. Mobility as a service is mostly done through micromobility. With larger cars providing a smaller part of the mix.

This month, Seat have revealed a both a subscription model along with a Escooter and Scooter brand with Mo.

Seat's brand Mo director explains why electric scooters is just the beginning for established car brand with a start-up vibe.

“Are we crazy or what?” Seat Mo director Lucas Casanovas told Auto News this week.

Seat, the most traditional of car manufacturing for more than 70 years is moving into the a world of electric mobility with its MO brand.

The new Mo e-mobility division will sell the Seat Mo 125 electric scooter plus, in selected markets, two e-scooters: the Seat Mo 65 and Seat Mo 25.

Lucas told Auto News:

“Then we found that in some countries, the number of people getting a driving licence has dropped 40% or 50%, depending on the country. If young people don't have a driving licence, then of course they will not buy a car.

“Based on that, we said to ourselves ‘the young generations need to move from A to B, but if they don't buy cars, what are they doing to move?’

“We saw this increasing use of kick-scooters, motorcycles and other mobility services like Uber, for example. So we said 'if we don't provide these new mobility solutions to the younger generations, they will go somewhere else'.

“This is when we decided to go to new micro-mobility products but also to micro-mobility services.”

Why is Seat offering a subscription based service according to Casanovas:

“In France, for £212 per month, you can have a Seat Ibiza car plus the electric scooter plus our kick e-scooter together in one pack.

“Our idea is that for the weekend you need the car, but to go to the gym, you may need only the motorcycle, and then for your kids to go to school just the e-scooter.

“We're merging products and services because we have to be prepared to offer the maximum flexibility to our customers.”

Casanovas has understood the future. Car companies for the 100 years were the only mobility solution.

Now with the rise of micromobility and the legislation pressure of the urban environment car companies have to reminage themselves.

What are other car companies doing:

Renault has Mobilize, Toyota has Kinto and other car makers are launching similar partnerships with E scooter brands. While it would not be unreasonable to find fuel firms to start to move into the mobility space too. While they have the real estate in towns and c

Seat is hoping that Mo can give it an advantage that helps it thrive long into the future - whatever it might look like.