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Avis Budget's (CAR) Connected Cars Cross the 100K Mark

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Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR - Free Report) announced yesterday that it has crossed the 100,000 connected cars mark. The number reflects more than two-fold increase year over year.

Reaching this milestone reflects a significant progress toward Avis Budget’s broader goal of connecting its entire global fleet by the end of 2020.

Improving Operations, Harnessing Data

Avis Budget's connected car program enables customers to manage their entire rental through the Avis mobile app.  The app’s usage has increased to more than 1.5 million transactions by more than 400,000 customers in two years since its transformative launch.

An expanded fleet of connected cars allows streamlining of operations and cost reduction. It enables enhanced tracking of idle vehicles, and automated processing of cars ready to rent. Also, it facilitates real-time inventory counts, mileage management and automated maintenance notification.

Moreover, the massive data generated by these vehicles related to road conditions, accident prone zones, location mapping, weather report as well as user preferences during the driving will actually be a much prized resource for the company, which it can monetize later.

Avis Budget Group, Inc. Revenue (TTM)

Avis Budget’s Expansion Strategy is in Full Swing

The company continues to expand via alliances, acquisitions and joint ventures. Recently, Avis Budgetexpanded its partnership with Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) to reward the latter’s customers who rent on Avis Car.

Zipcar partnered with Volkswagen to add 325 electric Golf to its London offering. It also partnered with the City of Columbus in order to be available to businesses, visitors and a local resident.

Avis Budget’s ongoing partnership with Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Waymo (to provide fleet management services to Waymo’s self-driving vehicles in Phoenix) has now expanded to other areas as well. It also partnered with Lyft to add thousands of vehicles to the Lyft Express Drive program across North America.

We believe that such moves will give the company a leg up on competitors such as Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ - Free Report) .

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