Car rental companies establish association and aim to promote shared mobility
The international car rental companies Avis Budget Group, Enterprise Holdings, Europcar Mobility Group, and Hertz have founded the Association of International Car Rental Companies (VIA) in Germany and aim to advance shared mobility. As experts in shared mobility with a nationwide fleet of more than 250,000 vehicles, rental companies would play a key role in sustainable and connected mobility concepts, claim the providers.
The association aims to represent the economic and mobility-specific interests of the "world’s leading providers of mobility solutions" to the German government, according to the intention. The united companies operate a fleet of around three million vehicles worldwide. In total, the member companies brought around 135,000 cars onto German roads in 2020. With approximately 14,000 employees in Germany, they see themselves as a central player in the automotive market, the tourism industry, and the entire mobility sector.
"After the crisis year of 2020 – during which the industry made a significant contribution to maintaining basic services as part of the critical infrastructure under challenging circumstances – VIA now wants to actively promote exchanges with decision-makers from politics, business, and society in Germany," according to a press release.
The focus is on communicating the interests of member companies to achieve a "successful mobility transition" in Germany. The goal is to develop sustainable and connected mobility offerings. The association also aims to promote the perception of the entire car rental industry as an important component of Germany’s future mobility mix.
"Car rental is the original form of car sharing and thus a shared mobility service from the outset. The business model has always been based on the principle of alternating use of shared goods – such as vehicles," explain the providers.
This allows them to "offer the right vehicles at the right place at the right time" and meet the everyday mobility needs of various customer groups, both in urban and rural areas. A central demand of the association is therefore the legal recognition of car rental companies as original shared mobility service providers under German legislation. This would create equal competitive conditions for an "inclusive mobility ecosystem of all shared mobility services," say the rental companies.
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