Rob

I thought maybe the “old” avants are going back to the manufacturer (or being sold) and there is a gap of a few months until the new model (which is already on the road and looks great by the way) arrives on the fleet, but that doesn’t explain the Merc SW.

The other possible explanation is that with a limited number of vehicles in the Select serious they are simply pre booked already, but I have tried about 20 different dates (yes, 20!) in Jan-Feb-Mar and could not find them at all…

But I’m sure Rob can answer this for us…

More specifically, the A4 Avant will be coming on fleet in September.

That is odd about the C class estate. I’ll take a look into it. I’m sure you’ll let us know if you spot the discrepancy again!

Rob

Talking of Estate cars, I assume the A4 Estate will be replaced by the new one? And if so, when will this happen?
New A4 Avant looks great actually (much nicer looking then the C class estate if you ask me) and apparently its so huge and practical, it kind of makes the A6 estate pointless…

See here:

http://www.audi.co.uk/audi/uk/en2/new_cars/a4/new_a4_avant.html

Regards,
Robert

Rob

Robert

Thanks Rob for managing expectations during my holidays!

I know that there is a lot of interest for the cars in Select Series and this product in general, which is why we have listened and put a lot of work and analyses in refining the product ahead of this summer.

I’d also like to reassure you in the fact that your comments on the blog as well as on the survey (for those who have received it) have been taken into account. We have also engaged with the manufacturers as promised.

I can’t give names but we met new manufacturers on the back of your comments hoping to get them on fleet, and have spent a good amount of time reading the comments on this blog with existing partners!

The reality is that we have to balance demand and supply on a product were we want to offer cars that you value at a good price (we’re reviewing our prices after your comments) and the ability to get a guarantee on make on model.

Sometimes, for production on the manufacturer side(e.g. a change in model year) or economic reason (the economic drivers of a specific model make it too expensive for our customers), Avis and the manufacturers will struggle to get the critical volumes for Select Series. It’s never long term though!

Our customers told us a few things:
1. They like the models we have in Select Series and felt that Mercedes were missing
2. At some point last year, we weren’t always able to deliver on our guarantee promise on specific models of A4 because of too much demand and not enough supply after Audi stopped the production (for good reasons )
3. They’d like to see some seriously fun cars from time to time in the fleet.

Therefore:
1.a we’ve added the mercedes, since you asked for it
1.b the others cars received very good feedback so they have their place in Select Series
2.a we restricted avaibility in some stations to get critical mass in all the others and service as many customers as possible
2.b we will review this situation as discussions with our partners / manufacturers continue.
3. We working on some good surprises regarding seriously fun cars and other things with manufacturers. Hush hush!

Please keep sending us feedback on Select Series (we never take them personnaly) as we share the same passion We will 150% take them into account and so will the manufacturers. I promise!

I hope you appreciate that we’re probably the only car hire company with a fleet and marketing teams actively asking customers for their feedback on the cars they’d like to drive!

Let me know if you have any other questions!?

Firstly, I apologise if the title of the blog post manifested expectation that the Select Series was going to experience some significant and exciting changes. In reality we have simply revised the availability of each make/model by station, removed the VW Passat estate and replaced it with the Mercedes C Class estate. We’d love to have added some new exciting cars but the reality is that we have to manage the composition of Select Series with what is available from our manufacturers. That’s not to say we still won’t have anything new and exciting on the Select Series and we hope to have “promotional” cars to allow customers to guarantee any new make/models that our manufacturers launch. And I know we are always speaking to manufacturers to see what else we can get.

With regards to spec, I’ve requested this from our Fleet team and will give you as much information on the Audi A4 as soon as I get it. Robert, Julian – you should now be able to book the 307CC although it is at selected locations. Let me know where and when you are looking to book and I’ll advise if there are any available.

Finally, price – something all of you have commented on. I understand your concerns and I promise to discuss it with our pricing team. If we are priced to high we won’t have any customers and that is not good!

Anyway let me know if I have missed anything and I will get more information as soon as I get it.

Rob