Europcar Group has expanded its presence in the Spanish car sharing sector with the acquisition of Bluemove.

The acquisition has been announced through the Ubeeqo car sharing start-up in which Europcar took a majority share at the start of 2015.

Bluemove has a community of 47,000 registered customers in Spain, operating in the cities of Madrid, Seville and Malaga, and will be soon launched in Barcelona and Valencia. It has strategic agreements in place with diverse private and public entities in all cities where it operates, such as the Regional Transport Consortium of Madrid.

Europcar said the acquisition would allow it to further accelerate the development of car sharing through Ubeeqo, by bringing its support to scaling up the business thanks to its customer base and its know-how for fleet management and financing.

“We are pleased that this acquisition strengthens, with Ubeeqo, our leadership in mobility markets and allows us to attract and address new customers. Together, we are going to simplify customers’ lives by providing them with solutions that adapt seamlessly to their usage patterns and mobility needs,” commented Philippe Germond, chairman of the Europcar Group Management Board.

He added: “Only a few weeks after the acquisition of a French franchisee, Locaroise, this new operation is a further illustration of our commitment to create value for our shareholders through acquisitions and the development of new mobility services, alongside the deployment of the second phase of our Fast Lane transformation plan.”