18 December 2008

Zipcar vs Hertz ~ Imitation = Sincere Flattery!

Ken Belson in today's NYTimes article Hertz Tosses Some Car Keys Into the Ring, Battling Zipcar describes Connect, the Zipcar-esque service from car rental giant Hertz...
"Like Zipcar, Connect by Hertz members can make reservations online and use swipe cards to open their cars, which will be parked at 10 lots in Midtown Manhattan. In a nod to Zipcar’s success in signing up young drivers, the Toyota Prius and the Mini Cooper will be among the first 35 cars that Connect by Hertz will offer in New York. Hertz has 40,000 cars in the New York area. By comparison, Zipcar has about 5,500 cars in 13 big cities, including 1,400 cars at 300 sites in the New York metropolitan area."
Zipcar is one of my favorite urban innovations -- co-founded by the ever-delightful MIT Sloan alumna (and multi-company entrepreneur) Robin Chase! Here's Robin's TED Talk.

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