Zipping to a New Business Model: Focussing More on Car Rental Than Car Ownership

Not many companies can genuinely claim to have invented a new business model. Car-sharing service Zipcar, which saw its stock soar on its Nasdaq debut Thursday, is one of them.

The company’s initial share price shot up from $18 to $28. But the IPO gain, interesting for investors, may not be as interesting as the company itself. Zipcar isn’t making money, but it is expanding, and it is gaining revenue. And as importantly, it has caught the imagination of many in the areas where it operates. Concentrated in large cities and college towns, Zipcar allows its members to easily check in and out of parked cars, said chairman and CEO Scott Griffith.

 

“It’s a very different business model than the traditional car-rental business,” Griffith tells CNN in the interview. “We really see our competition as car ownership rather than car rental.”

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