Nissan Targets Millennials With College Campus Program

Nissan Enterprise college campus rental car (Credit: Nissan)

Even though Americans are buying cars in record numbers, as we reported before, Nissan has recognized that the future is in the youth, or more specifically Millennials. Many automakers have expressed frustration with trying to snag people in their 20s, causing them to come to the questionable conclusion that kids these days don’t care about cars at all. Considering that there hasn’t been an upsurge in donkey purchases nationwide, such an attitude could cost them big time in the near future.

Instead, Nissan is using a clever new strategy that could give it great face time with college students, possibly cultivating a relationship that could last for years to come. Nissan has managed to snag an exclusive deal with Enterprise rental cars, being the only brand that’s available at almost 90 different college campuses in the United States. About 40 additional campuses will have a mix of vehicles from Nissan and other automakers.

The new Enterprise venture will compete directly with Uber, Lyft and numerous car sharing services. Quite a few students have opted for such options, helping them stretch their money further as they grapple with ever-increasing tuition and other expenses.

According to Enterprise, the Nissan cars will be available to rent for $5 an hour. Other automakers have been jumping on the car sharing bandwagon lately, such as Daimler using fleets of Smart Fortwos as part of the Car2Go service. There are rumors that Tesla is contemplating doing something similar once the Model 3 launches. Ford has been experimenting with a service named Getaround.

Such car sharing ventures could very well help secure the future of the car industry. After all, impressing kids in college with your product is a good way to secure their business later, when they actually have some money to make a purchase.