“Tourism is already level-pegging, even nudging ahead of mining as a contributor to South Africa’s gross domestic product,” says Nathan-Jones. “One thing this scenario underlines is just how much tourism has come of age.”

“This industry is now a true economic powerhouse and Imperial’s Car Rental Division is helping drive that growth. Tourism currently contributes more than a million quality jobs to the economy with the ability to achieve much more for the country and for our people.”

Between them, the Imperial Group’s two car rental brands, Europcar and Tempest Car Hire, clock up 65 years of experience in the southern African car rental market, points out Nathan-Jones.

“The Imperial group pioneered the multi-brand strategy many years before it became popular. Europcar has operated in synergy with its sibling Tempest Car Hire as brand leaders of their respective market segments for the past 24 years,” says Europcar chief commercial officer, Martin Lydall.

“Over that quarter century, we’ve put an enormous amount of creativity and careful financial planning into both, streamlining our operations internally and in terms of our offering to our customers. At Europcar, we’ve always tried to go a little further, offer a little more – and right now that’s encapsulated in our slogan, ‘A little further goes a long way’.
Tempest Car Hire’s chief operations officer Leslie Matthews, adds that the current slogan for Tempest Car Hire, founded in 1986 and brought into the Imperial Group in 1991, is “Save more, do more”, encapsulating its value-for-money and fun approach to delivering optimum consumer service.

“For the past five years both of the Imperial Group’s car rental brands, Europcar and Tempest Car Hire, have been in the top five of the Sunday Times Top Brands listings,” notes Lydall. “Europcar also applies this approach to engaging with staff and is especially proud to be a finalist for the Oliver Empowerment Awards to be announced in late April.”

Long-standing efforts at staff empowerment by both Tempest Car Hire and Europcar have been rewarded with BBBEE 2 status, notes Lydall.

“More than 50 % of Europcar’s management team is made up of women,” he adds. “We’re also proud that 60% of the company’s executive team are women, all experienced leaders in their areas.”

“It is part of our heritage –Imperial’s car rental business was built and led from the start by the legendary team of Carol Scott, Maureen Jackson and Dawn Nathan-Jones. Dawn Nathan-Jones still leads the business by example”, he points out, “from championing staff empowerment to serving the wider tourism sector in South Africa.”

“A landmark in Europcar’s history was becoming the first home-grown car rental company to be awarded ‘Proudly South African’ status and we’re obviously thrilled to have been named the ‘World Travel Awards’ Leading Car Hire Company in Africa for nine years running. Such recognition makes us really proud. But it also inspires us to make sure we remain the leading service provider to our customers.”

An example of this determination to keep improving is the upcoming significant new upgrade to Europcar’s Business Connect. This extension to its B2B online booking system for corporates is a first for small businesses in the region. It provides them with a convenient online booking facility, speed services and preferential rates, which has proven to be a success, according to Lydall. The latest upgrade is due for launch in April.

Both Europcar and Tempest Car Hire have clearly tailored product offerings to suit different consumers and markets.

“Europcar’s extensive mint-sourced fleet and branch network of more than 100 locations across southern Africa are backed by internationally benchmarked service standards that see it rated among the best in the global Europcar network,” says Lydall.

Tempest Car Hire’s image as a consumer champion goes right back to its roots because the brand combines excellent quality at a very competitive price.

“The Tempest brand is more leisure-oriented”, Matthews points out, “and prides itself on being the only car rental company to offer free car seats for children. This is part of a cradle-to-car-renter policy that sees such young passengers referred to as ‘Future Renters’ in the typical jaunty Tempest-speak”.

“The two brands have different styles of engagement with customers”, says Lydall. But he believes that whether it’s the personal service and attention to detail at Europcar or the friendly and ultra-cool service at Tempest Car Hire, both brands revolve around listening to their customers and delivering the attractive and safe products they want.

“We’re determined that our brands Europcar and Tempest Car Hire are going to draw on their decades of experience of working under the umbrella of the Imperial Group to grow our share and South Africa’s share of the global tourism market.”

For more information on Europcar, visit www.europcar.com.

For more information on Tempest Car Hire, visit www.tempestcarhire.co.za.