Given the success of car sharing programs like Zipcar, the Germany luxury carmaker has decided to get in on the action.

BMW AG has announced plans to let drivers in Germany rent its cars on an hourly basis as part of a pilot project.

“Many customers would like to use various models at different times instead of being tied to one vehicle. For example, they’d like a 5 Series BMW Saloon for an important meeting, but would prefer a Z4 for a trip into the countryside at the weekend. With ‘BMW on Demand’, the BMW Group is therefore launching a project which will allow car drivers to make a fresh decision each time about the BMW they want to drive,” a statement from the company said.

BMW on Demand — the 12-month pilot program in Munich — will let drivers rent various models from the 1 series to the 7 series sedan for about €16 to €32 ($22 to $44 an hour). Like most other car sharing programs, customers can reserve cars online, by phone or at a counter there.

Depending on the success of the program, BMW may expand the program to other cities.

As a way to increase business beyond the traditional route, especially to young customers who are driving increasingly less, BMW is following the route of several other European auto makers such as Daimler AG and PSA Peugeot Citroen who are looking for other ways to sell to that demographic.

Experts are expecting the number of cars in places like Tokyo, New York, London and other cities in developed countries to drop per capita over the next 15 years, the Wall Street Journal reported.

This gives the opportunity for carmakers, then, to keep up with cultural trends.

Companies like Zipcar and Connect by Hertz (Hertz’s car sharing program) have said in the past that each shared car takes away about 14 cars from the road. Even if that number is an exaggeration — programs like this will go a long way in reducing carbon emissions and congestion in the long run.

Hertz representative Paula Riveria said that car sharing customers generally drive significantly less annually than their car owner counterparts, and are less likely to buy a car.

Let’s hope other car manufacturers get on board.