Ford will provide up to 1,000 cars to car-sharing network Zipcar at more than 250 colleges throughout the U.S. to reach younger consumers accustomed to driving Toyota Priuses, Nissan Versas and Mini Coopers.
The partnership will last two years and gives Ford a marketing tool it has lacked as the car-sharing service has grown in college towns and larger cities, especially on the East and West Coasts.
University of California “Today’s students are thinking differently about driving and transportation than they have in the past,” said Bill Ford, the automaker’s executive chairman. “This program enables today’s new drivers to experience our latest fuel-efficient vehicles, while helping them reduce their cost of living and help relieve congestion on campus. We’re looking forward to making Ford a staple of their college experience.”
Ford and Zipcar will offer $10 off the $35 annual membership fee for the first 100,000 new university students members who sign up for Zipcar, plus $1 off the hourly rate for the first 1 million hours of use on the Ford vehicles at select colleges and universities.
New Ford vehicles start arriving on campuses this week. The new generation of Ford vehicles will include the 2012 Ford Focus.
Scott Griffith, chairman and CEO of Zipcar, says the alliance will help Ford and Zipcar better understand the preferences of the college-age drivers.
“We’ve had Zipcars on campuses for more than eight years and as a result we’ve learned a lot from the next generation of drivers. We’re targeting a generation that only knows how to buy music by the song, so paying for a car by the hour is a natural for them,” said Griffith.
Zipcar has established partnerships with more than 250 universities throughout North America, including Harvard University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of California-Berkeley, Loyola Marymount University, Florida State University and George Washington University.
Car-sharing programs such as Zipcar are increasingly becoming students’ first experiences behind the wheel. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the number of drivers age 16 to 19 declined by 19 percent from 1978 to 2008.
According to an independent study commissioned by Zipcar in 2010, almost half of all 18- to 34-year-old drivers are driving less, and nearly two-thirds would drive less if alternative transportation options were available.
“Millennials appear to have developed a very different view of the automobile. Access and convenience are their top priorities,” said Griffith.
McClatchy-Tribune News
