Soon, Tier’s turquoise e-scooters will get a new paint job and the brand itself will disappear. After the takeover by Dutch-French competitor Dott in January this year, the vehicles will now have the same Dott design, as the company announced.
The animal app will also be disabled. Users must switch to the Dott platform. “We surveyed many customers and noticed that Dott’s brand awareness is higher in all 21 countries,” Philipp Haas, Managing Director for the German, Austrian and Swiss markets, told the German news agency.
Animals are only better known in Germany. But: “In Germany we noticed that the branding or brand is not that relevant,” Haas emphasizes. For users, the focus is on reliability in terms of range and availability of vehicles. The switchover is expected to start in Germany in mid-October and be completed within weeks.
The merger took place in January
Dott and Tier merged in January. Dott is particularly well represented in the Benelux and France, while Tier was mainly active in the German-speaking countries. In addition to e-scooters, the vehicle portfolio also includes e-bikes. Tier separated from the traditional bicycle rental activities after the acquisition of Dott. E-mopeds are also no longer part of the range.
The e-scooter market is considered very competitive. After a strong growth phase in the first years after approval in 2019, companies are now focusing on savings and profitability. Still, Haas assumes that market consolidation is not yet complete. “We believe there will be more mergers,” he stressed. “But we don’t participate in that.”
There were no further large-scale job losses at Dott and Tier as a result of the merger, he said. Tier had cut nearly 200 jobs by 2022 as part of its strategy shift to greater profitability. Dott wants to be in the black this year in terms of interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
