• Detroit Free Press, Monday, September 14, 2009 10:55 AM

Demand for short-term car sharing services is growing so fast in that rental-car heavyweights Hertz and Enterprise are jumping into the business, joining industry leader Zipcar, which has 325,000 members, as well as regional nonprofits such as I-Go in Chicago, City CarShare in San Francisco and Philly CarShare in Philadelphia, Greg Gardner reports.

"The future of transportation will be a blend of things like Zipcar, public transportation and private car ownership," Ford executive chairman Bill Ford recently told Fortune magazine. "... I think it's a great opportunity for us to participate in the changing nature of car ownership." But so far, Detroit's automakers are laggards in selling cars to car-sharing services, which lean toward fuel-efficient models, especially hybrids.

Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith estimates that demand for car-sharing eventually could generate more than $5 billion in annual revenue industry-wide.

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