The car rental company had drastically reduced its fleet during the pandemic. Demand is now greater than supply, prices are rising – and Sixt is experiencing the most successful first half of the company’s history.
For years, the Germans could hardly move into the world because of the corona pandemic, now they seem to want to relieve the pent-up wanderlust and catch up on everything. However, the increased demand leads to new shortages – and higher prices. The Pullach car rental company Sixt, which has just announced the most successful first half of its company history, is also benefiting from the new desire to travel: According to this, the company made almost 60 percent more sales from January to June than in the first six months of last year, but still from global lockdowns was embossed. That’s why this number is even more important: Sixt’s sales for the period were 16.9 percent higher than in the pre-Corona year 2019. According to Sixt, the pre-tax profit has almost doubled compared to the first half of 2019.
The car rental company has to cope with the tense market situation after the pandemic years: As a result of the abrupt drop in demand at times due to the lockdowns and travel restrictions, Sixt also drastically reduced its fleet to save costs. Rental car companies are now unable to fully meet the increasing demand, as they are only cautiously replenishing their fleets and, on the other hand, the car manufacturers are only able to supply limited new vehicles due to problems with the supply chain. The result is higher rental car tariffs – recently there was talk of average prices of almost 90 euros per day. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the tariffs for rental cars increased by 48.7 percent within a year up to May 2022.
In Italy, sales have tripled
In addition to a “significant increase in domestic sales”, Sixt is now benefiting in particular from strong international business, especially in Europe and the USA. The share of international sales in the group has risen from 64 percent to more than 70 percent within a year. According to Sixt, 40.6 percent of Sixt’s revenue in the first half of the year came from Europe, 29.8 percent from the USA and 29.6 percent from Germany. In Italy alone, sales tripled. Sixt is hoping for further impetus from additional stations in the USA and now also in Canada and Australia. “Our internationalization strategy continues to pay off and the business development is strong evidence of the robustness of our company,” said co-boss Alexander Sixt.
In view of the positive first half of the year, Sixt expects continued high demand in the summer months. For the autumn, however, there is “considerable uncertainty in view of the numerous threatening macroeconomic difficulties in Europe and the USA”. The supply bottleneck at the car manufacturers also remains a challenge. For 2022 as a whole, Sixt continues to expect a “significant increase in consolidated revenue compared to 2021” and pre-tax earnings at the upper end of EUR 380 to 480 million – in 2021 it was EUR 442 million.