• The New York Times, Wednesday, February 14, 2007 11:30 AM

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, a unit of DaimlerChrysler, is in early talks to merge with Vanguard Car Rental, which owns National and Alamo, in a deal that would create the third-largest rental car company in the United States. It would be smaller than Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Hertz Global Holdings, but larger than Avis Budget Group in terms of revenue.

A deal could push rental car rates higher. Prices have already risen 10% to 20% in the last year, as the Detroit automakers have tried to move away from providing discounted fleet vehicles to rental car companies and focus on higher-margin retail customers.

The National brand began in 1947, while Alamo emerged in 1973. In the mid-1990s, H. Wayne Huizenga's Republic Industries acquired both, combining them into ANC. Republic Industries, now known as AutoNation, spun off ANC in 2000. By 2001, ANC had filed for bankruptcy.

Dollar was founded in 1965 in Los Angeles and acquired by the Chrysler Corporation in 1990, making it part of the carmaker's Pentastar Transportation Group, alongside Thrifty.

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