Avis Car Rental is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Avis, Budget Rent a Car,

Budget Truck Rental Budget Truck Rental is the second largest truck rental company in the continental United States, with around 2,800 locations and 32,000 trucks across the country. Budget Truck Rental is owned and operated by Avis Budget Group, which was spun off ...

and

Zipcar Zipcar is an American car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group. Zipcar provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour or day; members may have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee in addition to ...

are all units of Avis Budget Group. Avis Budget Group operates the Avis brand in South Africa, North America, South America, India, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2011, Avis announced it was acquiring

Avis Europe plc Avis Europe plc is a United Kingdom-based company which holds the licence to operate the two main vehicle rental brands of Avis Budget Group (Avis Rent a Car System and Budget Rent a Car) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as Asia in ...

, which had been a separate corporation licensing the Avis brand. Since the late 1970s, Avis has featured mainly

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

(GM) vehicles such as

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

and

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

, but today also rents popular non-GM brands including Ford and Toyota. Avis is a rental car provider to the commercial segment serving business travelers at major airports internationally, and to leisure travellers at off-airport locations. Many of the off-airport locations are

franchised Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

operations rather than company-owned and -operated, as is the case with most airport locations. Avis was the first car rental business to be located at an airport. In January 2013, the company agreed to acquire Zipcar for $491 million.

History

The company was founded in 1946 with three cars at Willow Run Airport,''Business Superbrands'', Editor: Marcel Knobil, Author James Curtis (2000), Superbrands Ltd. , p. 18. Ypsilanti, Michigan, by

Warren Avis Warren Edward Avis (August 4, 1915 – April 24, 2007) was an American entrepreneur who founded Avis Car Rentals in 1946. Biography Born in Bay City, Michigan, Avis graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1933. He served in the Unit ...

(August 4, 1915 – April 24, 2007).Car-Rental Pioneer Avis Dies at 92
''Morning Edition'', April 25, 2007 It established branch operations across the United States over the next few years, becoming the second largest car rental company in the country by 1953. By its tenth anniversary in 1956 it had opened its first international offices in Europe, Canada and Mexico. The Avis corporate motto of "We Try Harder" was adopted in 1962, during CEO Robert Townsend's tenure. The company aimed to put a positive spin on Avis' status as the second largest car rental company in the United States while also taking a shot at larger competitor The Hertz Corporation. The slogan was used for 50 years before a re-branding in 2012, when Avis unveiled a new slogan—"It's Your Space." In 1972, Avis introduced Wizard, the first computer-based information and reservations system to be used in the United States car rental business; to this day, almost all frequent Avis customers are identified by their unique "Wizard number". In 1981, the company instituted its system of

vehicle tracking A vehicle tracking system combines the use of automatic vehicle location in individual vehicles with software that collects these fleet data for a comprehensive picture of vehicle locations. Modern vehicle tracking systems commonly use GPS or G ...

, that was named Advanced Vehicle Identification System (AVIS). Avis has been owned by a number of other companies over the years, along with several periods of being a public company. These include: * 1956: The Amoskeag Company * 1962: Investment group

Lazard Freres Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's ...

* 1965:

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...

* 1977: Norton Simon * 1983: Esmark * 1984: Beatrice Foods * 1986: Investment firm

Wesray Capital Corporation Wesray Capital Corporation was an early private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout investments. The firm was founded by former US Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon and former New Jersey Nets owner Ray Chambers. The firm is known ...

* 1987: Majority ownership under an

Employee Share Ownership Plan Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Emp ...

* 1989:

(acquires 29% stake) * 1996: HFS Corporation * 2001: Cendant * 2006: Avis Budget Group

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1946 establishments in Michigan American companies established in 1946 Avis Budget Group Car rental companies of the United States Companies based in Nassau County, New York Franchises Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey Retail companies established in 1946 Transport companies established in 1946

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links