Ford and Zipcar join forces for college car-sharing program

Students returning to universities in the United States this week are going to be joined by thousands of new first-year students. But also among the incoming frosh: Ford vehicles.

Today, Ford Motor Co. announced that it is partnering with Zipcar to provide college students the opportunity to share Ford vehicles, rather than drive personal cars, during the school year.

Under the agreement, up to 1,000 vehicles—mainly 2012 Ford Focus small cars and 2012 Ford Escape compact SUVs—will become part of the Zipcar for Universities program over the next two years. Ford will also offer the first 100,000 students $10 off the $35 annual membership fee for the Zipcar short-term college car rental program, now available in 250 school campuses nationwide. What's more, the car company will also subsidize the first one million hours of Ford vehicle sharing, knocking the rental fees down to about $7 to $8 per hour.

The agreement greatly expands Zipcar's nationwide fleet of more than 8,000 vehicles of 30 different models, from Toyota Priuses to Mini Coopers. But the move is seen as a pretty savvy—and cost-effective—move by Ford to woo young drivers to consider the American company's vehicles for their future first-car purchases. (According to Forbes' reckoning, the two-year agreement will cost Ford a paltry $2 million. By comparison, the company spends an estimated $2.5 billion in advertisements per year.)

Interestingly, the Ford Focus and Fusion cars are the only two models from an American car company to make our list of best cars for teen drivers.

This could be seen as a "win" all around, aiding Ford and Zipcar with their business goals, making affordable transportation available to more college students, and also giving more consumers a chance to test drive a car outside of a direct sales environment.

Ford, Zipcar Bring Future of Transportation to Newest Generation of Drivers at U.S. Universities [Ford press release]
Zipcar's University program [Zipcar]
Ford's Zipcar Deal Is A Clever Marketing Move [Forbes]
Via Zipcar, Ford Seeks Young Fans [NY Times]
Hey kids, rent a Zipcar Ford Focus cheap: It's more fun than sexting [USA Today]

—Paul Eng