Citroen Launches Service That Helps Customers Rent Their Cars

The French company's Multicity program enables Citroen owners to rent their vehicles to other people. Citroen is the first to offer peer-to-peer car-sharing in Europe. In the United States, General Motors Co. offers a similar program with its partner RelayRides.

Citroen sees the service as a way to attract potential customers who may decide to own a car in the future. "Citroen Multicity serves as a way for future customers who rent Citroen cars to discover and test drive our cars," a spokesman said.

Car-sharing is becoming more popular, especially with young people who balk at high ownership costs and among people who lives in crowded cities where parking spaces are hard to find.

Other automakers, such as BMW, Daimler's Smart, Renault, Volkswagen and Citroen's sister brand, Peugeot, offer short-term rentals of new vehicles with their car-sharing services.