Europcar adds New Zealand

Melbourne, May 17th, 2005 – New Zealand is now a Europcar franchise country.

The Europcar brand is being introduced across New Zealand by Europcar Asia Pacific which has acquired the operations of National Car Rental in that country. National’s 19 locations in New Zealand are transferring to the Europcar brand with the new owners taking over a fleet of 1000 vehicles and linking all locations to the group’s reservations and operations management system in Australia.

“Another important step towards strengthening our business in this region has been made. Most European visitors link Australia and New Zealand so now we can provide a seamless service, which also works for outbound New Zealand travellers to Australia and Europe,” says Arndt Rieken, Franchise Director Europcar International.

CEO of Europcar Asia Pacific, Doug Hunt states that Europcar in New Zealand would provide an important synergy for travellers on the Europe-Australia-New Zealand route, as well as leisure and business travellers flying between Australia and New Zealand.

“Like Australia, New Zealand’s scenic attractions lend themselves to self drive and with high world interest in New Zealand as the scene for filming Lord of the Rings, we expect our launch there will be successful,” Hunt adds.

In Australia, Europcar operates from 110 locations. Europcar Asia Pacific’s infrastructure is supported by a preferred operator alliance with Australia-New Zealand airline Pacific Blue, and with Australian domestic carrier, Virgin Blue. Both are Virgin-owned airlines.

Europcar is represented in 143 countries with 2,825 rental stations and operates a fleet of over 200,000 vehicles throughout Europe, Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific. Further information is available under www.europcar.com, at your travel agency, or through any Europcar call centre.

Contact:
Europcar International
Christoph Wolf,
Director of Communications
Phone: +33 130 449 800,
Fax: +33 130 440 445,
E-mail: wolfch@mail.europcar.com

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