• by Karl Greenberg , August 31, 2011

Ford and Cambridge, Mass.-based car sharing network Zipcar, Inc. have inked a two-year deal that's a first for both companies. Ford will be Zipcar's largest university vehicle partner, a partnership that involves Zipcar's programs at more than 250 U.S. campuses.

Zipcar says it will add up to 650 Ford cars and trucks to its lineup this academic year and up to 1,000 Ford vehicles during the life of the agreement. The automaker says the Focus and Escape will be prevalent in the Zipcar lineup.

The Dearborn, Mich., automaker has been looking hard at Millennials and their desire for access and convenience without the costs and responsibilities of ownership, even it means more sharing of products.

Now the company is doing something about it, said CEO Bill Ford in a company statement, "Today's students are thinking differently about driving and transportation than they have in the past. This program enables today's new drivers to experience our latest fuel-efficient vehicles, while helping them reduce their cost of living and help relieve congestion on campus."

George R. Cook, executive professor of business administration at the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business, knows something about youth marketing. Cook was at Ford under Lee Iacocca when the company was bringing out the Mustang. He tells Marketing Daily that while Focus and Escape aren't exactly pony cars, they are the right vehicles for the Zipcar venture.

"It's a test-drive concept that creates an experience for college kids, many of whom don't own a car. It's not unlike creating a Starbucks experience: get them that Ford experience, get them behind the wheel early, which translates to sales and share later," he says. "Focus is the right car for that group, because they want high-tech and fuel efficiency." He says the program also constitutes a market test for Ford because the automaker will gain feedback from Millennials about what they like and don't like about the cars.

To drive participation, Ford will fund a promotion giving $10 off the $35 annual membership fee for the first 100,000 new university members who sign up for Zipcar, plus $1 off the hourly rate for the first 1 million hours of use on any of the new Ford vehicles at select colleges and universities.

Among over 250 universities with which Zipcar has partnerships are Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, the University of Southern California, the University of California - Berkeley, Loyola Marymount University, Florida State University, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and George Washington University.

The company said it did an independent study of licensed drivers last year in which it found that almost half of all 18- to 34-year-old drivers are driving less, and nearly two-thirds would drive less if alternative transportation options were available. The study also found that 45% of Millennials (ages 18 to 34) said they had consciously made an effort to reduce how much they drive, and 64% would drive less if alternative options including public transportation, car sharing or convenient carpooling (ride sharing) were available in their area.

"Young people are used to renting movies, or books or whatever the case may be, so when you translate that to renting cars for an hour here or there, it's business as usual for them," notes Cook. But he says for Ford to succeed, the cars have to be more than just another rental experience. "I would say [college students] have to be -- for lack of a better word -- wowed by the experience; it has to set Ford apart."