September 28, 2005

Garmin StreetPilots featured with Dollar/Thrifty Rental cars

In a move that will certainly be seen as an intrusion on the Magellan/Hertz space (another salvo in the Garmin vs. Magellan battle), Garmin has announced that a unit based on the StreetPilot c330 portable automotive GPS will be available on Dollar and Thrifty rental cars at 138 rental locations throughout the US and Canada. The extra cost will be about $10 a day.

Based on Garmin's popular StreetPilot c330, the unit features a simple touchscreen interface, with automatic route calculation to any destination and turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions along the way. The navigator contains detailed maps of the U.S. and Canada; featuring addresses and nearly six million points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and tourist attractions. Dollar and Thrifty rental locations are also optimized in the unit's database, and drivers can easily route to the vehicle's rental return facility. I wonder if they have a panic mode when you are running late for a plane???

"Offering Garmin car navigation in Dollar and Thrifty rental vehicles is an ideal fit for everyone involved," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "Dollar and Thrifty can provide their customers with a convenient and easy-to-use navigation device, and Garmin is able to expose thousands of potential customers to its popular portable GPS navigator." This is the key to Magellan's early success in the automotive GPS segment. The early work with Hertz got them huge learning in the design and functionality of the product, as well as exposure and use among thousands of travelers who most likely turned into buyers of the popular RoadMate 700 series products. Magellan continues to be the leader in the US for the Automotive category. Garmin is making a consistent effort to erode that lead with the recent introductions of the i series StreetPilots, the StreetPilot c340, and the high end StreetPilot 2720.

"Our customers are asking for GPS navigation to make their time on the road more convenient, time-saving, and enjoyable," said Brian Carpenter, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group's vice president of sales, marketing and advertising. "Whether for business or pleasure, travelers want to make the most of their travel time, and the Dollar Thrifty StreetPilot c330 definitely helps them do that."