Through a roll-out targeting its rental outlets in Europe, Europcar is set to offer its customers the new Renault Zero Emission range from 2011 in the European short-term rental market.
The four show-cars demonstrated at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Twizy ZE Concept, Zoe ZE Concept, Fluence ZE Concept, and Kangoo ZE will be launched in the market in 2011 with three models: a family sedan, a small city car and an LCV-version Kangoo for fleets and business users.
They will be followed in 2012 by a compact 4mt five-seater sedan. After 2012, the EV range will continue to expand into all segments to meet the needs of a diverse range of customers, the company said.
Rafael Girona, chief operating officer of Europcar, said: ”Europcar reaches a decisive point in bringing electric vehicles into the rental market; they will join the ecofriendly fleet that already features on our web sites.The interaction between our network and Renault’s technology will genuinely pave the way for a major advance in mobility solutions.
”With the addition to its fleet of the Renault Fluence ZE and Kangoo ZE Models from 2011 and then of the Zoe ZE in 2012, Europcar is giving substance even more tangibly to the commitments set forth in its Charter for the Environment.”
Uwe Hochgeschurtz, senior vice president of Renault, said: ”Renault firmly believes that the leverage created by short-term rentals will help to drive adoption of electric vehicles by individual customers, in addition to its distribution network.
”As part of our vision of electric vehicles for everyone’s daily use, we are delighted to be teaming up with Europcar, a global provider of mobility solutions. To enable our partner to launch its range of electric vehicles at the earliest opportunity, we have now reserved 500 zero emission vehicles.”
