Originally Posted by
drzoidberg
I have a question- how does Alamo fit into all of this? Are there plans to retain Alamo as a viable part of the company in the future? Alamo seems to be the less expensive version of National, but in this economy, it seems like an unnecessary duplicate of National.
Why not just do away with Alamo, but keep National at airport and Enterprise at neighborhood locations?
Alamo isnt going away. Surprisingly, it is a huge brand in the leisure and oversees tour business. In fact Alamo has the #1 market share in the UK and is also the Market leader in Florida and Nevada. Besides all the Europeans that come to North America love the brand and know it better than National. Enterprise is unheard of (although they have offices in the UK and parts of Germany). In most places in FLA and NV, it's ALAMO/ NATIONAL, not the other way around. The company generates more revenue from Alamo then it does from National in these areas. On top of that the avg rental length is much longer with Alamo than National. And again from an oversees perspective people that travel into North America, everyone knows Alamo and most wont have heard of Eneterprise. The brand is also very much tied with tour operators and travel agents which do a great job of selling prepaid tour vouchers for the Alamo brand. Not even Hertz and AVIS can match Alamo from an inbound Oversees segment. Having said that, we are reducing the exposure the brand has in some lesser "tourist" markets, and in places where there was an network of OFF AIRPORT Alamo locations (such as Canada), they are being eliminated and will be available just at Airports. But the 3 brands do target distinct segments in the market. Alamo may be removed in non tourist desitnations. I dont see it staying in places like OMAHA or NEBRASKA for example. Hope that helps.