Rental car giant Dollar Thrifty says that it will cut the proportion of Chrysler products in its fleet from 76 percent to just 30 percent in an effort to cut costs and to diversify its fleet as a way of protect itself from any future challenges in the auto industry.
Dollar Thrifty was long known as the primary rental client for Chrysler in North America, but the new fleet will rely slightly more on Ford products. About 34 percent of the company’s 2010 fleet will be made up of Ford products and General Motors products will account for an additional 20 percent. The remaining 16 percent of non-domestic brands will be dominated by Nissan , Hyundai , Kia and a handful of undisclosed automakers, according to Reuters.
Previously, Dollar Thrifty had an agreement with Chrysler that, in exchange for cut-rate pricing on the automaker’s products, the agency would supply at least 75 percent of its fleet with Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles. The agency’s new agreement is for a fixed number of Chrysler vehicles – about 30,000 annually.
The agency says that during Chrysler’s brief bankruptcy earlier this year, it was owed about $11 million in incentives and repurchase programs from Chrysler. The automaker has since paid up all of its dues, but Dollar Thrifty says it is concerned about a similar affecting its cash flow in the future, regardless of automaker.
