Expanded Hertz car sharing to compete with Zipcar

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Car Rental News - 21/04/2011

 

Hertz is to expand its Connect car sharing service to take share from Zipcar.

Hertz Global Holdings has announced plans to expand its existing offering in the car-sharing segment in a bid to take a greater share of the growing market. Hertz’s car-sharing service, called Connect, will be aimed at competing more strongly against Zipcar.

Zipcar, which is one of the most popular services in the nascent car-sharing industry, enjoyed a hugely successful listing on the Nasdaq market recently, its shares opening at more than 60 percent from their offer price in the initial public offering last Thursday. Connect by Hertz, meanwhile, has slowly been garnering its own share of car sharing business.

The practice of car sharing is enjoying a small boom in the USA, where rising prices for fuel, burgeoning city populations and a lack of parking space are piling the pressure on commuters who drive alone. Analysts see huge potential for car sharing services both in the USA and abroad.

In its announcement, Hertz said it is expanding its network of pick-up locations. Under its one-way sharing programme, the rental firm is planning to over more than 100 such locations.

Hertz also says that it will eventually offer customers the option to take one-way rentals from New York to a variety of other cities, as well as college campuses. Zipcar, which has been around for more than 10 years, merged with Flexcar in 2007 to become an even bigger force in the car-sharing business.

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