First Car Rental, describing itself as the largest homegrown South African rental company, has announced this week that it will end its agreement with European rental giant Sixt, and all dual-branded signage will revert to its own brand from October 1.
Melissa Nortje, Head of Development, Strategy & Marketing at First Car Rental, said: “It’s never easy ending such a long-standing partnership but ultimately Sixt represented only a fraction of our overall business by facilitating some inbound volume to South Africa via a few source markets.
“The First Executive Management team agreed that the Sixt brand presence at branches contributed to market confusion and inadvertently diluted our own local First brand. This, coupled with our strategy of agility and speed of decision-making, will enable us to solidify our standing further in the South African market and beyond.”
First Car Rental’s fleet strategy will remain the same, offering customers a wide choice of new-model vehicles, from economy to luxury and everything in between. The company currently has 500 staff, 50 branches and 9 000 cars in South Africa.
First Car Rental recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.
