On Oct. 1, Fox Rent-A-Car will open a new corporate location in Austin; it’s 20th U.S. car rental facility and first location in Texas.
The city, which is where Silvercar's headquarters are located, had a successful soft launch in March, according to the company.
From Feb. 28 to March 18, customers will be able to rent from Silvercar for the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival and the GRAND-AM Road Racing series.
The effort is part of City of Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Coucil Member Chris Riley’s plan to foster a more pedestrian-friendly community.
Additionally, Getaround was recently recognized by business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan as a leader in the peer-to-peer car sharing market for its business model, innovation in technology and leadership in the industry.
Austin was the first North American car2go city, and will remain as corporate headquarters.
A 5% car rental tax was approved by the city’s voters in 1998 that was primarily marketed to help pay for an events center and parking garage, and later a park.
Since the start of the car2go operations, more than 80,000 rentals have been completed throughout the greater downtown Austin area with average usage between 30 and 60 minutes per rental.
car2go N.A. LLC said it will publicly launch in May its car-sharing program in Austin and that it will extend its successful pilot partnership with the City of Austin for an additional six months.
Daimler's carsharing initiative allows city employees to rent cars without a specified return time and return to a different location.