ZipCar Partners with Ford to Offer New, Better Cars to Students

We first heard about ZipCar in 2009. ZipCar is a convenient solution for students who don’t have a car on their college campus because it allows them to reserve and borrow it whenever they need, for however long they need it.
Now, ZipCar is partnering with Ford in an effort to reach college-age drivers more effectively. Within the next two years, 1,650 models of Ford vehicles will be available for ZipCar users to drive. Ford will also help differ the rental charge and membership fee for college drivers who use their cars.
So why is Ford doing this? As an advertising major, it seems pretty obvious to me: Ford is hoping to build brand loyalty among college drivers with the hope that after graduation, these drivers will want to buy a Ford vehicle.
“What we are really going to be doing is getting some feedback from [college-age ZipCar members] in terms of what they like, what they don’t like, what we can do differently,” said Ford Chairman Bill Ford. “So we’d like them to make a lifelong process of thinking about the Ford Motor Company.”
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ZipCar is also happy about the partnership because it will allow them to offer more vehicles to their college-age drivers. The company hopes that by offering superior vehicles, the drivers will continue to want to use ZipCar after they graduate from college.
“This is a very important step for us because when these students leave the schools they tend to move to major urban operations where they take their first or second job and we have cars there, too,” said the CEO of ZipCar, Scott Griffith.
Most the vehicles that Ford and ZipCar plan on offering will be the fully-loaded Ford Focus. This vehicles is very fuel-efficient while also offering the latest technology, which makes them very enjoyable to drive. ZipCars are currently available on more than 100 universities in North America, including Bard College, Florida State University, and Butler University. To see the full list of universities that participate in this program, click here.
Via CNBC.com
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