Rental firms turn to hybrid cars

The future isn’t orange after all – it’s green. Or at least that is the case among rental firms in the United States and Europe who are turning to hybrid cars in an effort to limit the industry’s negative impact on the environment and reduce fuel costs.

Enterprise, the world’s largest car hire company, has put itself at the head of the pack in the race to turn green. It has already added more than 5,000 hybrid cars to its fleets in the United States alone – and these include popular models such as the Toyota Prius, the Nissan Altima and the Ford Escape.

Its closest competitor in the car hire sector is not far behind – Hertz has added 4,000 hybrid cars to its fleets, the majority of which are the Toyota Prius.

According to one Enterprise worker, there has been a change in attitude from customers who were previously reluctant to take out hybrid cars. Originally there was concern over their reliability but these fears have since evaporated and now the car hire companies are finding it difficult to keep up with demand particularly as fuel prices push close to $4 a gallon in the US and sit at more than £1 a litre in the UK.

Renting a hybrid car is more expensive due to the higher demand – in the US they are typically $6 higher than conventional vehicles – however, with the ability to run at around 50mpg this additional cost is quickly recovered.

Read on for more about hybrid cars.

Author: Paul, May 21, 2008
Filed under: Fleet management,Fleet news,General interest

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