Stelios plans next big venture
UK: EasyCar wants to have 12,000 rental vehicles operable by mobile phone
EasyCar is planning to make some 12,000 vehicles available at unmanned collection points around the world – and convert them so they can be unlocked using a mobile phone.
Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s car rental business last week started testing technology that believes it will allow for fast expansion into the lucrative market.
According to the Financial Times, customers will be able to reserve a car on the internet, make a mobile phone call when they arrive at the vehicle, and wait a moment while EasyCar operators unlock it from a remote location.
Haji-Ioannou clearly believed the “car clubs” market will be a lucrative one; he said: “In the nest few days we will ramp it up. My guess is that as many as a third of our vehicles could be car clubs by the end of next year.”
This would leave EasyCar well and truly at the forefront of the “car clubs” market. There are already many players in the market, but at present the biggest car club is recognised as a US outfit called Zipcar, which has 4,000 members and 150 cars.
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