far2000

Hertz, Avis add Priuses to rental fleet

Fuel-efficient hybrid cars added to fleets in U.S. cities.

June 15 2007: 4:57 PM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Hertz Corporation is adding Toyota Prius hybrid cars to the company's rental fleets around the country.
The Prius, which gets 48 miles per gallon in city driving and 45 on the highway, according to new EPA estimates, is the most fuel efficient passenger car in America. As a gasoline/electric hybrid car it uses an electric motor in combination with a small gasoline engine to improve fuel efficiency.
2007 Toyota Prius

Avis, part of the - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ( - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER), is also adding Priuses to its U.S. rental fleets, according to a report Thursday in USA Today.
Hertz will add 3,400 Priuses to its fleets worldwide by 2008, the company said. The cars will be available as one of the company's "Green Collection" choices at 50 major airport locations around the United States and at the company's Manhattan location. The Manhattan location will have 100 of the cars, which will be rentable by the hour, the company said.
The "Green Collection" program, which the company started in September, 2006, allows customers to select a specific make and model of car from among six selected vehicles. The vehicles, which include the Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry, have an average fuel efficiency rating of 31 miles per gallon, according to Hertz.
The cars will begin appearing in Hertz fleets later this month. Prices for renting a Prius from Hertz will start about about $50 per weekend day, the company said in an announcement.
Hertz already rents hybrid vehicles in several European countries, the company said. - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

zetableh

And I still wouldn't drive one if you gave me the keys and paid me to.

Merc1

Exactly how I feel. It has become the ultimate dweeb car. I hate it when they block the left lane too, I cut them no slack.

M

SDNR

yeah, it's ironic that this so called "environmentally friendly" car is such an embodiment of visual pollution. Why does it have to look like ccccccrap.

Bruce

The funny thing about the Prius is despite the huge hate for it - it really isn't a bad car whatsoever. I know, I've driven a few.

I do agree though, It looks awful in all ways imaginable.

ojis

Because they were thinking about reducing CO2-emissions and not design?

SDNR

The thing was still "styled" (for want of a better word) by Toyota's design studio -- there is no excuse for it being so unimaginative IMO. I strongly believe the design of a product should reflect its virtues -- nothing about the Prius's design says anything about its technology.

notic

a bane to drive and boring to look at. the only reason this sells is the gregarious attitudes of owners trying to be "green"....that and it saves lots of gas. i'm saving about $200/month driving someone else's prius (compared with driving my t-reg).

Yannis

I would take a Golf 2.0 TDI instead, saves even more gas and i wouldn't fall asleep behind the steering wheel like in the Prius.

BMW_Dude

I find it funny how Americans think cars that can do over 31mpg is a green car, they really need to catch up with Europe and have diesels!