ekar, the Middle East’s first and largest personal mobility firm, has launched car subscriptions in Saudi Arabia through its ‘Self-drive Super App,’ in collaboration with some of the country’s largest car rental providers. Customers who seek the comfort of having a personal car without the financial commitment of purchasing one would love ekar’s subscription leasing.
Since its introduction in early 2021, ekar has had spectacular growth in the UAE subscription leasing arena, swiftly becoming the market leader in terms of car menu size and total rental numbers. According to Mordor Intelligence, ekar is now set to transfer its subscription leasing expertise to Saudi Arabia, where it will target a $2.5 billion USD car rental and leasing market by 2026.
“ekar Saudi Arabia carsharing experienced a spike in demand for longer-term bookings during the pandemic, especially with female drivers who choose ekar as their ‘first car solution’. Launching subscription leasing is a perfect solution for our 100,000 users in the Kingdom. The marketplace is nascent in Saudi Arabia, and the combination of subscription leasing with carsharing will make ekar the only App in the market that offers the entire vertical of self-drive from per minute carsharing to multiple months subscriptions,” said Vilhelm Hedberg, founder of ekar.
“ekar is partnered with some of the world’s largest car rental companies and connects fleets to renters. Our integration with CarPro, the world’s largest ERP software in the car rental industry, allows ekar to ensure that the availability of any car is only a click away, avoiding painful declines due to car shortages in the rental car space. In a world with car shortages, optimizing fleets is the key to success, and ekar Mobility OS allows a seamless subscription leasing experience with guaranteed car availability,” continued Hedberg.
Subscription cars are door-delivered, vehicles come with the convenience of insurance, Vehicles, maintenance, and roadside assistance can all be switched, traded up, or returned at any time.
In 2019, ekar was named the most popular free-floating carsharing service in the world, with more than 250,000 customers and 1.5 million journeys booked in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. According to a research analysis by Worldwide Industry Insights, Inc., the global automobile subscription services market is anticipated to cross USD 40 billion by 2026, and ekar is debuting in Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey, and Egypt over the next 12 months.
