Skift Take
Car rental giants are working to reduce fleet size following a period of reduced demand. But as ridesharing continues to grow in popularity on a global scale, these companies need to get creative about what the future of on-demand transportation really looks like.
The global car rental industry has recently entered a decline stemming from a lack of demand caused by the growth of ridesharing platforms and the reality that they own too many cars and employ too many workers, to be profitable.
The first quarter earnings of the major car rental companies shows the industry's struggle with getting their fleets to the right size to meet the reduced demand for their services.
"I think pricing in the industry in general has fallen; and in order to maintain being competitive as the industry drops price, we are obviously forced to follow, if we're going to maintain sales and share," said Kathryn Marinello, CEO of Hertz Global Holdings. "To that extent, I do believe we have underinvested in our brands, and we're working very diligently around how to invest in greater segmentation, greater services, and focus on those brands. And going forward, as we have the right fleet and pricing and make great strides in our service capabilities, we will have a lot more investment in optimizing our digital channels, as well as reinvesting in those
