Rental order a boost for Ford

Press, 25 February 1983, Page 24

Rental order a boost for Ford

An order for 4000 new Fords, worth more than E2O million, has been placed by Avis-Rent-A-Car in Britain. The company has bought almost equal numbers of Fiestas. Escorts and Sierras. The order must have given Ford the shot in the arm it was looking for. because Vauxhall, well back in the field and panting hard just a couple of years ago. has shown signs of revival in recent times. With United Kingdom new car sales bursting into life and reaching almost 165.000 in January this year - the best ever January sales — Vauxhall grabbed 14.5 per cent of the total, closing on BL's 16.9 per cent share. Ford was still well in front with 33.9 per cent, but obviously becoming more than a little worried, for Vauxhall, over the last few months, has gathered in some of the fleet sales which were once almost the exclusive province

of the Ford Cortina. i Fleet and leasing companies and car rental firms account for two-thirds of Britain’s car sales, and Hertz, which has about 4500 rental-cars in Britain, now has four times as many Vauxhall Cavaliers as it does Sierras, the car that has replaced the Cortina. Swan National, another big British car rental firm has ordered 5000 Vauxhalls, mostly Cavaliers. In the past it bought mainly Fords but has declared that henceforth it will buy Vauxhalls and Fords one-for-one. Geico. Britain's largest

fleet management company owns and manages about 25.000 cars and it has started buying more Vauxhalls. Previously about 7 per cent of the fleet was Vauxhall and 70 per cent Ford. Now it is 18 per cent Vauxhall and 55 per cent Ford. Now one of Ford's largest dealer organisations in Britain has opened up Vauxhall showrooms. The dealer, Harold Perry, used to handle Ford exclusively, but under an agreement with Ford, it could not grow bigger unless it chose another manufacturer. The choice fell upon Vauxhall.