Sixt:Competition
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November 2, 2023: A recent customer survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, ranked Sixt last, with a satisfaction score of 72% below the 76% industry average. Sixt customers complained about their interractions with the company’s staff as well as the quality and cleanliness of its vehicles. Analysts such as Michael Austin from the US analysis firm Guidehouse praised Sixt’s rapid expansion in U.S but warned that it could easily lose to its competitors through price cuts and quality of service[1].
September 19, 2023: Alain Favey, CEO of Europcar told Handelsblatt that the company plans to expand into the U.S market by opening the first station at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in the first half of 2024. “We are targeting around ten locations in America at the end of 2024,” he said. Europcar is already active in 25 locations in U.S through its subsidiary Fox Rent A Car. The subsidiary has 20,000 rental cars, mainly operating in airports. Europcar wants to increase the fleet size to 30,000 in the U.S market, though Favey did not give the period for the growth target. The U.S accounts for half of the total global car rental business; hence they "have to be present there," said Favey. Regarding the strategy there, Favey said their fleet will have both the Europcar logo and the Fox logo. “We will push Europcar more strongly as a brand where there are particularly many tourists from Europe,” he said. Fox currently has around 1% market share in U.S. The other strategy that Europcar plans to use, which is still under discussion, is to use its connection with the Volkswagen Group. Here, Volkswagen will give Europcar access to large dealer shops, enabling it to rent cars there. These cars could be serviced at dealer shops and marketed as used cars after seven or eight years. Europca, which has 9,000 employees, recorded 3 billion euros in sales in 2022 and EBITDA margin of 17%[2].