Europcar Buys European Holdings Of National And Alamo

Car rental company Europcar has bought the European operations of National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car from their parent company Vanguard Car Rental Holdings. It also has entered into a transatlantic partnership with Vanguard's North American operations.

National, which is predominantly a business brand, and Alamo, which is predominantly leisure, will continue to be run separately by Europcar. However, corporate clients of Europcar now will have access to the National network in North America as well as the Europcar network in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In addition, multinational clients of National will have access to Europcar in certain markets, Guirec Grand-Clement, global sales and marketing director for Europcar, told BTN. "If a client has a corporate agreement with National in the U.S. and U.K., it will continue to have the same agreement," he said, "but if the client wants access to markets where National has no representation, they will be able to use Europcar instead." National has a presence in most of Europe but there are several countries in the Middle East and Africa where Europcar has coverage but National does not.

Grand-Clement said National and Europcar will retain their existing portfolios and salesforces and therefore will compete for new business. However, the two brands will work on harmonizing their express checkin and return services and also will look at giving mutual access to both inventories on their booking tools. Back-office systems will be merged.

Eighty-nine percent of National's business in EMEA is in the United Kingdom, where it is the market leader. It also has ownership in Germany and Switzerland, but is weaker elsewhere, relying mainly on a licensee network. Europcar, which was bought by French investment company Eurazeo from Accor earlier this year, claims to be the largest car rental company in Europe, although it was previously only the fifth-largest player in the United Kingdom. It has 2,950 outlets and a fleet of 200,000 vehicles.

"I think this is going to be a win-win," said Jacqui Cahill, EMEA car product manager for Carlson Wagonlit Travel. "This will help Europcar in the U.S., while National has a good presence in some European markets but has not managed to expand in others."

Cahill said she would not rule out greater consolidation of National and Europcar at a later date, pointing to the experience of the Avis Budget group. "Having two brands has been slightly confusing for some clients," she said.

Europcar's deal with Vanguard is subject to regulatory approval from the Office of Fair Trading in the U.K.