PSA mobility services set to expand

PSA North America will launch two mobility services in an undisclosed East Coast city in the next two months, the French automaker said Wednesday at the seminars.

The maker of brands such as Peugeot, Citroen and Opel will launch Free2Move, an aggregation platform that enables users to book and pay for a variety of transportation services, such as ride-hailing or public transit, with one mobile app.

The Free2Move service is "an asset-lite approach similar to Airbnb or Hotels.com, where consumers get fast and efficient access to a range of transportation options in their city across a wide range of mobility partners," said Lynn Blake, PSA North America's vice president of mobility.

PSA also will offer a car-sharing service. The automaker will use a leasing partner for about 600 vehicles for that service.

The idea of "mobility consumption" has taken the place of traditional vehicle ownership, Blake said.

PSA is product agnostic. "We provide access to all forms of transportation, not just the products that we produce and market," she said.

Services such as ride-hailing and car-sharing, will continue to grow powered by new technologies and urbanization.

"We at PSA North America want to participate in all aspects of these changes as consumers seek new and more efficient ways to go from point A to point B," Blake said.

Free2Move is the first part of PSA's three-pronged, 10-year plan to sell vehicles again in North America.

PSA plans to use the data from its mobility services to better understand its consumers, their driving habits and how they use different transportation services.