Europe’s three strongest mobility models leave others trailing

Europe has attracted scores of innovative mobility services. But few have scaled into viable businesses. Demanding regulations, high costs, unstable revenues, and customer price resistance have derailed many promising initiatives. Some never got beyond pilot testing.

“Pilots are very nice to see whether things work or not. But the problem is that pilots cannot measure what the result is at scale,” says Markus Collet, partner and head of the Automobility Platform at Corporate Value Associates (CVA). [1:00:49]

Success now depends on more than innovation. “The investor mindset has changed compared to some years ago because of higher interest rates. There’s more focus on profitability and on recurring revenues,” says Collet. [8:13]

Full-service leasing, short-term rental, and ride-hailing have emerged as Europe’s strongest mobility models. Many others remain commercially unproven.

Collet was speaking at an online event hosted by Qorus and CVA that discussed new mobility models in Europe. He was joined by Rui da Silva Duarte, head of mobility solutions at Arval Spain, and Nimeshh Patel, chief executive officer of UK insurtech Wrisk.

Key takeaways

• Europe has produced many innovative mobility services, but few have scaled into viable businesses.
• Regulation, high costs, unstable revenues, and customer price resistance remain major barriers to scaling mobility models in Europe.
• Full-service leasing, short-term rental, and ride-hailing have emerged as Europe’s most mature mobility services.
• A second group of mobility models, including shared micromobility, used-car leasing, and robotaxis, is showing signs of profitability but has not yet scaled fully.
• Scaling mobility services depends not just on innovation, but also on strong partnerships, financial discipline, and business models that can generate predictable revenues.
  
  

Check out the event highlights!