KT Kumho Rent-a-car held a board of directors meeting and a shareholders’ meeting on Feb. 13 and approved the appointment of former KT Telecom & Convergence President Pyo Hyun-myung as president of KT Kumho Rent-a-car.
KT Kumho Rent-a-car is forecast to own a fleet of more than 100,000 rental cars and post more than 1 trillion won in sales during this year. The Korean car rental market is growing at a fast pace as more and more people tend to rent cars instead of owning their own vehicles.
Figures made available regarding the Korean car rental market showed that KT Kumho Rent-a-car had a fleet of 91,668 registered rental cars as of the end of last year, up 28.5 percent over the 72,861 cars registered a year earlier. The nation’s largest rental car company said its fleet of rental cars will likely surpass the 100,000 unit barrier in the first half of the year and the 110,000 unit mark in the second half as rental car demand continues to rise.
KT Kumho Rent-a-car saw its sales surge to an estimated 885.3 billion won last year, a jump from 716.2 billion won in 2012. The company said it will join the “1 trillion won club” in terms of sales during this year. KT Kumho Rent-a-car saw its market share rise to 24.7 percent as of the end of last year, up 2.3 percentage points over a year earlier. The figure is close to double the market share of its next closest competitor AJ Rent-a-car with 13.5 percent.
KT Kumho Rent-a-car’s charming performance was owed to the fact that those who rent cars for two to three years instead of owning vehicles, particularly in terms of individual clients, are on the rise. The company saw its individual clients’ share rise to 20 percent in 2013, up from 14 percent in 2012.
Choi Jung-hyuk, senior researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., said long-term car rental users have no financial burden stemming from acquiring, registering, and repairing cars, and later they may buy the cars they are driving at second-hand car prices.
KT Kumho Rent-a-car is expanding the imported car rental business tailored to meet individual clients’ needs. The company now owns a fleet of 1,300 imported rental cars, more than three times the 400 imported vehicles in its fleet in 2012. KT Kumho Rent-a-car plans to concentrate on the imported car rental market, which is racking up a high profitability rate, and the company is set to be listed on the securities market between July and August, a company official said.
Pyo took the helm at KT’s mobile business division and served as acting KT chairman until new KT Chairman Hwang Chang-kyu took office recently, replacing former KT chairman Lee Suk-chae.
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