[nostromo]

I'm curious about the economics. I presume they're buying the SUVs?

By getting into the game of managing a fleet of vehicles, I imagine their margins will look more like a cab company's and less like a software company's.

It's as curious as if Airbnb started buying up hotels and their associated inventory risk.

[ed]

    Lyft won't actually own the new luxury rides, which were 
    designed specifically for the company by West Coast 
    Customs. Instead, individual Lyft drivers are buying the 
    vehicles with some financial assistance from the company, 
    according to a spokesperson.

    The move means Lyft won't have to deal with issues like 
    car maintenance or storage, and also maintains the peer-
    to-peer element that has propelled the company. The costs 
    of the cars, and the total assistance offered by Lyft, 
    isn't being disclosed.

From http://mashable.com/2014/05/08/lyft-premium-service/

[brianbreslin]

Lyft becomes the bank...

[lotp]

Lyft becomes the taxi brokerage that monopolizes the kinda of car you can use.

[mhaumann]

Lyft doesn't own these vehicles, the drivers own them (and therefore they can use them as their primary cars all the time). Lyft is just helping drivers upgrade (they've negotiated special pricing).

[jedrek]

Interesting, this is what a lot of taxi cab companies here in Warsaw for the past 10 years. Škoda, Toyota and Fiat have all given them great deals on various models as a means to promote their car brands.

[hammock]

Uber has been maintaining fleets for a long time. Don't have a source off the top of my head but I know from talking to lots of drivers here in Chicago that they regularly take their top-rated drivers and offer them a (company-owned or leased) SUV or town car to drive as a part of Uber Black.

[dsl]

There are companies that get a contract rate with Uber to say, have X cars on the road 24/7. They in turn hire enough drivers to keep the cars moving all the time.

I'm fascinated by how logistics work, so I was asking my Uber driver a bunch of questions. He explained the above to me and said he was referred over to one of these companies because he didn't (or couldn't) buy his own car at the time.

[seanmccann]

This is not true. They perhaps contract with them to set minimums, but Uber does not own the cars.