Is this correct? Enterprise Rental Cars feature the Ford Escape Hybrid? Look at the photo of the 2008 Escape Hybrid I was behind while driving north on I-23 in Michigan. Can those of you in Michigan check in on this? The license plate is 911AFL.

 

I don't see why not.
I read they are using Flex Fuel ( E85 ) cars in some areas with a high number of E85 pumps. ( Iowa, Minnesota, S. Dakota primarily )

 

Do rental car companies pay "full" price for their vehicles and would they get a priority over the normal consumers? Ford Motor Company has been losing money and do they sell the hybrids at "discount" to rental companies or sell at full price to normal consumers? Or is this a calculated move by the headquarters to expose the hybrid vehicles to a larger customer base thru rental companies?

 

Ford has done many quiet and, sometimes, not so quiet things to put the FEH in the public eye. Note how many FEH cabs there are in NYC and SF or how many political and cultural icons that own one. It's no wonder that Ford is putting them in rental fleets. In my mind it is a GREAT IDEA.

Ford went to great lengths to make their hybrid integration as seemless as possible for the end user. To this end, the more non-hybrid owners that get to experience hybrid technology the better. There are still many people out there that won't buy hybrids because of the persistent myths and FUD surrounding the technology. Rental fleets with hybrids can help to eliminate this ignorance.

As for pricing, I would expect rental sales to be on the same level as all other fleet sales (including the taxi services). I haven't seen any fleet sales numbers from Ford regarding the FEH but I'm sure at this point it has been a substantial percentage of actual units sold.

At this point Ford knows they have a great product and can sell it faster than they can make it and I hope that they are taking efforts to increase production. Until then, it is in everyone's best interest that Ford spread production across all the outlets so the general public can better understand the technology and we can all (boldly) move forward.

 

Yes, just like everyone went out and bought a Taurus after renting one because they realized that America CAN build a good car. Oh wait.....

 

http://www.hybridcars.com/fleets/car...go-hybrid.html

Yes, they have hybrids. As for the cost of buying a hybrid from Ford, yes the discount for fleet vehicles applies to the FEH as well as the conventional Escape.

As a private buyer, the discount plus the tax credit makes the hybrid very competitive with the V6 engine.

 

That's a bit of a low blow... I could counter that argument with the Ford Crown Vic (or the Econoline van) since for MANY years it's been the fleet vehicle of choice in the taxi, delivery and law enforcement realms, where regular duty far exceeds what an member of the general public would put the vehicle through. Public sales numbers for those vehicles are high. But, this is a digression from my main point.

The FEH drives like every other non-hybrid but with much better FE for an SUV. It's more about dispelling the hybrid myths that they are complicated, expensive, underpowered, or otherwise require special knowledge to drive.

If a large portion of the general public realizes that hybrid technology is little on compromise and BIG on benefit, demand will increase and manufacturers will follow with production. We already see this happening but there is still a large portion of the population that can't get past the stigma associated with early hybrid/EV attempts. If hybrids can work as taxis and rental vehicles, they can stand up to anything the typical American driver will ever put them through.

America IS building good cars and the FEH is STRONG proof.

 

Just to make myself clear, I was not insinuating that America cannot build a good car--I am making the point that very few people buy cars because they rented them. In fact, heavy fleet service as rental cars generally has a negative impact on a car's sales volume (hence my Taurus comment).

Hertz (and probably several other companies) has had a "green" program for years where you can rent hybrids in certian locations for a premium over a standard car. Programs like that really aren't going to get hybrids in the hands of the general public though because most people wouldn't pay the premium unless they were already "green" focused--in which case they already know the benefits of hybrids.

Edit: I just looked at Enterprise's site and it does not look like they have any sort of special "hybrid" class so my point above about paying a premium is not applicable--it must be just a luck of the draw thing so your logic could be correct (assuming that people are ever positively motivated by renting a car).

For what its worth, renting a Prius from Hertz is $419 a week out of SFO while a Focus will run you $235 so the premium was a lot higher than I figured (where applicable). Hertz also considers the ICE Camry and the ICE Fusion in their "green" class which I don't really get since the Focus is not "green".

 

Indeed. So much so certain car companies are actually moving out of fleet sales to rental agencies or demanding they purchase standard or deluxe equipped models. For years Rental Companies have been enjoying stripped down versions and a minimal price, but the long term economics and the "damage" done by consumers driving them has forced the Auto Industry to strongly dislike rental car agencies.

Some information I've heard is that Ford is giving them a slight discount, like X plan discount, but that's it. So, it's ultimately up to the buyer (Taxi/rental) to get them, and they don't get strippers either. If they want a Hybrid, they get a better equipped one. If they want it that badly, they can pay for it. Now, I haven't heard that "officially" from anyone, so how true it is may be called into question.

As for the actual rental, it's hard to say. Whenever my friend Joe comes to visit, he tries to get an economy car, but the last visit was offered an Escalade instead because they didn't have any economy cars for him (He ended up with a G6 and two free days rental). While he's found places that have Prius reservations, he's never been able to get one when he actually shows up.

 

Kristian, I can see your point but I can say that when renters are given a quality product they sometimes do want to purchase a similar model. For instance, the 2006 Hertz branded Mustang Shelby GT-H (notice the -H signified the Hertz association). People wanted to buy this model, so much so that Ford went on to build the 2007 Mustang Shelby GT due to customer (and dealer) interest/demand.