Vancouver's car2go gets new Mercedes-Benz sedans

Vancouver's car-sharing service, car2go, will be adding more sedan-style cars after finding users preferred them to the smaller Smart car vehicles the service is known for.

In 2015, the company introduced 25 Mercedez-Benz B-class series vehicles to its fleet as a pilot project.

Car2go Vancouver's general manager Chris Luvancigh says the response to the sedans was overwhelming with the cars in near-constant use.

"Members have used them for a lot of different reasons, a lot of reasons that our Smart car just weren't able to provide," he said.

For example, the Smart cars only fit one other person whereas the sedans are four door, five passenger vehicles.

The company is introducing around 250 2017 model Mercedes-Benz CLAs (a coupe model) and GLAs (an SUV model) to its 1,000-car Vancouver fleet in February.

Pricing for the larger cars, however, will be more expensive. The sedans will cost 45 cents per minute or $17 per hour, compared to 32 cents per minute or $13 per hour for Smart cars.

The move is an attempt by car2go to distinguish itself in Vancouver's competitive car-sharing market, which also includes BCAA's Evo car share, Zipcar, and the MODO car share co-op. Many of those companies already offered larger cars as part of their fleet.

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Car2go is a subsidiary of the German multinational Daimler AG, which owns Mercedes-Benz.