SIXT may be a newer name to Australia’s vehicle rental market, but some 14 months since launching in the country, it’s already achieving significant cut-through thanks to its modern fleet, bold branding and emphasis on customer service or ‘above and beyonding’, as the company refers to it.
Commercial vehicles make up a considerable portion of the SIXT fleet and include utilities through to light trucks, tippers and mine spec vehicles. A recent addition to these offerings are 45 IVECO Daily 35S vans, which were purchased predominantly to meet the growing needs of SIXT’s long-term rental customers working in pick-up and delivery applications.
The 12m³ vans feature IVECO’s 2.3l Euro6 turbodiesel engine, coupled to the market-leading 8-speed full automatic transmission, along with a raft of standard active and passive safety features including four SRS airbags, Advanced Emergency Braking System and IVECO’s ‘ESP9’ program, a suite of nine electronic driving aids.
SIXT National Commercial Fleet Manager, Ian Moore, has been with the company since its inception in Australia, but has almost 25 years’ experience in the rental industry – he said that the Daily vans were a great fit for SIXT and the requirements of its clients.
“From a specification standpoint, the Daily offered an extremely close match to what we seek in a van,” Ian said.
“The vehicles we select need to be practical and flexible to suit varying final mile delivery duties, and must also align with SIXT’s broader requirements around safety and emission performance. The Daily meets stringent Euro6 emission levels and is also well equipped from a safety standpoint – it’s important we can provide these benefits to our customers as well as other road users.”
Another major consideration for SIXT is the comfort and user friendliness of its fleet, as Ian explained.
“Users of the Daily will typically spend long hours at the wheel each day and often in city areas where there’s traffic congestion, so it’s vital that we chose a model that was comfortable and easy to use,” he said.
“With the full automatic transmission, a long list of driver appointments and car-like seating position, the Daily is simple to drive; access to the cabin and load space is also good, which makes it less tiring for drivers who are regularly getting in and out of the vehicle to make deliveries.”
Ian said a major reason for SIXT’s rapid acceptance in Australia was due to its customer-centric focus.
“SIXT might be a newer entrant in Australia but the company has been a major player in Europe for over 100 years,” he said.
“We’ve drawn on this vast experience along with a thorough understanding of the local market to hit the ground running. We’ve worked hard to remove friction points that customers may have contended with at other providers, and our goal is to deliver them a premium overall experience every time.”
Another area of emphasis for SIXT is what it terms ‘the green mobility transformation’ – it’s a transformation that’s already begun with the company boasting one of the country’s largest passenger EV rental fleets. Commercial fleet electrification is also on SIXT’s agenda with interest being shown in IVECO’s new eDaily.
“We’re well aware of the eDaily model and its availability in Europe and know that the range is also slated for launch in Australia later in the year. On paper these models would meet a lot of our requirements in the commercial EV space. We look forward to them landing,” Ian said.