Detroit, 1946. It’s a time and place that doesn’t have much in common with Johannesburg, 2010. Yet Avis has made the leap from one, to the other – and a very successful leap it has been, too.
The brand got its start when Detroit Ford dealer Warren E Avis established the first car rental counter in America at Willow Run Airport. Avis’ idea was to provide a seamless service from take-off to car rental – a service which may seem commonplace today, but was utterly innovative at the time.
This set the tone for a brand driven by dynamism, which reached its apogee when it started to establish an international presence in 1965. It was in 1967 that the brand reached South African shores, after Federale Volksbeleggings Bpk – a Sanlam division which owned a portion of the recently established Zeda Car Rentals and Tours – entered into a joint venture with Avis Rent a Car Systems. By the early 1970s, the company was represented nationwide. Ten years later, it had grown to become the largest Avis operator outside of the United States.
One of the most significant landmarks in recent brand history was the appointment of Grenville Wilson as CEO. It was his introduction of the Brand Ambassador programme which firmly entrenched Avis as a people-centred business.
Now the company is poised to enter the next step of its evolution, one characterised by a commitment to the environment, signified by its announcement in 2009 as the first carbon neutral car rental company.
