“The service will be possible to provide in Romania, as well,” said Ruediger Proske, senior vice-president International Franchise Division of the German Sixt group.
However, for a city to have that service available it must have a certain population level, at least half a million people, and a specific age structure, because young people are more willing to share a vehicle, he added.
The group operates in Romania indirectly at the moment, via Sixt New Kopel, held by Israel’s New Kopel group, holder of the Sixt franchise in Romania.
The DriveNow car sharing service is available in nine cities throughout the world, five of which in Germany and two in the US and has a fleet of more than 3,000 cars and half a million users. The next two cities where it will become available are in Scandinavia, the company official says.
Sixt is also looking at Prague, but a city has to make sense economically, because the minimum fleet is 150 cars or else it would be too small to be viable. The fleet in Munich stands at 500 cars, for instance, Proske said.
Romania, one of the largest markets in the region for Sixt, is an atypical market, because most of the business comes from foreigners. Moreover, those who rent a car do it for business purposes, but this is gradually changing.
The market is Europe is growing, as more and more customers understand owning a car can be ridiculously expensive because it is the most underused asset in the world. Average usage of a private car is 4%. More and more people are beginning to realize that and choose to rent or share a car via the car sharing service, Ruediger Proske said.
The Sixt New Kopel fleet in Romania numbers of 600 cars, which makes it one of the biggest in the region. The largest fleet, however, is the fleet in Croatia, which numbers 2,500 cars during peak season in the summer, and shrinks to fewer cars than in Romania during the winter, the official says.
The largest rent-a-car companies in Romania are Hervis, Hertz and Sixt, along with Autonom Rent-a-Car, a Romanian company held by brothers Dan and Marius Stefan. Autonom has a fleet of more than 2,000 cars and annual revenue of more than EUR12.5 million, while Sixt New Kopel posted EUR12.7 million revenue in 2014, which includes its operating leasing business.
Foreign customers dominate the rent-a-car market in Romania and they rent cars for business or leisure. About 80% of Sixt’s customers in Romania are foreigners. Sixt brings customers in Romania and smaller markets via its divisions in France, Germany and UK, Proske added.
New Kopel has invested almost EUR4 million in expanding and renewing its rent-a-car fleet this year, so it now has 600 cars, 350 of which replaced this year. It plans to start offering electric cars for rental, New Kopel manager Hezi Shayb said.
Most customers renting a car in Romania do it for business, they take the car on Monday and return it on weekends, which is why the company launched a campaign to encourage local customers to rent a car for leisure purposes. More and more people will be renting cars to travel to the mountains or to the seaside. The corporate segment accounts for 70% of the business, Hezi Shayb said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)