Porto Seguro and Cosan join a vehicle subscription joint venture

Porto Seguro and the energy and logistics company Cosan announced this Monday (8) the formation of a vehicle subscription and fleet management joint venture, with their growing commitment to urban mobility.

The joint venture will have a 50% share of each partner, with Porto Seguro participating in the business through its Carro Fácil unit, which already operates in vehicle subscription. Cosan will invest around R$300 million in the partnership.

Created in 2016, Carro Fácil, a brand new car subscription service, has grown by more than 50% a year, and currently has a customer base of almost 10,000, said the CEO of Porto Seguro, Roberto Santos.

Upon departure, the deal with Cosan will maintain its current focus on the subscription of light vehicles from Carro Fácil, which sells 12- to 24-month plans, with monthly prices ranging from R$1,700 to R$5,000.

“We are seeing an avenue of growth driven by people’s new relationships with automobiles,” Santos said in an interview with Reuters.

Still relatively small in Brazil, the car subscription market is trying to gain traction by seeking out customers seeking to have the vehicle as a service, freeing itself from bureaucracy with licensing, buying and selling, insurance, etc.

For Porto Seguro and Cosan, the partnership highlights the search for alternative sources of income, while they are directly or indirectly challenged by new businesses, such as digital insurance platforms or the growing demand for electric vehicles.

In June, Porto Seguro announced the purchase of 50% of the electronic toll company ConectCar, sharing control of the company with Itaú Unibanco, its biggest partner, which has also entered into partnerships in the area of ​​urban mobility.

Cosan, a partner at the Shell gas station network, is on the heels of a corporate reorganization while diversifying its business lines, betting on segments aligned with lower carbon emissions. In recent months, it announced investments in startups linked to the sector and a second cellulosic ethanol plant.

According to Luis Henrique Guimarães, CEO of Cosan, in the partnership with Porto Seguro, vehicles with “a smaller carbon footprint, including electric ones…It will depend on demand,” he said.