Toyota adds Ezi to its rental car pool

Toyota NZ says the firm is transitioning from an automotive to a mobility company.

Toyota New Zealand is driving straight into the car rental segment of the market, announcing the purchase of locally owned Ezi Car Rental on Tuesday.

Ezi, which had 24 locations nationwide and employed 130 staff, had a fleet of about 2,500 vehicles. The company would be housed under Toyota Finance NZ but run as a separate business as it has with car-sharing service Cityhop, which it bought in 2018.

Ezi executive director Kevin Walker, who has owned the company since 2009, told BusinessDesk that prior to Covid, the firm was buying 3,000 vehicles per year and counted as one of Toyota NZ’s biggest customers.

After its purchase of the fleet and branches of Thrifty Car Rental from global rental giant Hertz in December 2021, he thought the operator held about a 12 per cent market share.

Moving to a “mobility company”

Toyota NZ chief executive Neeraj Lala said it was an “exciting opportunity” as the company transitioned from an automotive to a mobility company.

“The acquisition allows us to focus on the opportunities in car usage as well as car ownership and sits alongside our ownership of Cityhop, putting Toyota in a great position,” Lala said.

“Ezi puts us at 18 airports across the country, as well as an additional six locations, and through its significant vehicle fleet, enables us to provide mobility solutions to existing and new customers.”

Lala said car rental is an important supporting industry for NZ tourism, which contributes around 3 per cent to NZ’s GDP.

“For Toyota, the importance of the rental car industry is the expansion of their value chain.”

The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.