The schemes are being run through its Ford Credit finance arm and see the carmaker team up with car rental marketplace easyCar Club in London, and also launch a scheme in six cities across the US in partnership with Getaround.

In the UK, the trial is being rolled out to 12,000 London customers while a further 14,000 retail customers in the US will be able to join car share programmes.

In London, Ford Credit customers can enroll to participate in the six-month pilot on the easyCar Club website now – the offer closes on 1 August. The scheme enables renters to search the easyCar Club site for a nearby car and book online. The keys are collected from the owner, or accessed from a safe, and members drop the car back to the same location.

“There is consumer interest in sharing the cost of vehicle ownership, and this programme will help us understand to what extent that interest extends to customers who are financing a Ford vehicle,” said David McClelland, vice president, Marketing, Ford Credit. “Realistically, most vehicles are parked and out of use much of the time. This pilot will help us gauge our customers’ desire to pick up extra cash and keep their vehicles in use.”

Ford Motor Company recently announced it will begin making its London-based GoDrive car-sharing service available to the public. The service offers flexible, practical and affordable access to a fleet of cars for one-way journeys with easy parking throughout the city.

Earlier this year, the company announced Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to leverage technology and innovation to take the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and big data. This includes car-sharing experiments in Germany, India, and the US that the company says will help determine how to best serve global customers as they face new mobility options in the future.