National Car Rental

The group is part of ANC Rental Corporation of Fort Lauderdale, Florida which operates mainly in the corporate market, and also owns the well-known Alamo Car rental brand for leisure and vacation clients.

National presently has rental operations in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE. It has established a corporate office in Dubai, ANC Marketing Services Middle East to spearhead its expansion plans. In 2003 the company will be opening for business in Oman and Saudi Arabia, and intends to follow with branches in Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

Managing director Peter R. Blott says his firm is actively seeking more business partners and has a vision of doing things differently and in a very dynamic manner.

'Our reason for having a local corporate presence is twofold,' he says. 'First we recognize that the Middle East is a particular market with its own particular needs and synergistic requirements. In order to maximize these opportunities it requires commitment from both the franchiser and the franchisee, in our case our business partners, and that the individual country businesses become part of the regional business unit'.

Mr. Blott says his ambition is to create a network of business operations in fifteen countries in the region, to provide a regional call centre, offer regional purchasing synergies for fleets and for the Dubai office to act as a regional corporate headquarters. The latter will also be involved in the provision of training, IT solutions, as well as marketing and sales.

'There is intra-Middle East potential, business that is available on a pan-Arab basis that is not being utilized,' he explains. 'We will have a different standard of unified service. It will be a seamless service no matter where transactions occur'.

Mr. Blott would like to hear from existing or complementary companies seriously interested in forming partnership arrangements in the Middle East. Contact: info@national-me.com.