BUSINESS travellers will soon be able to hire a Mercedes A-class for as little as £9–£39 (€14.4 –€62.4) per day from new car hire firm easyRentacar.

The rental operator is part of easyGroup, which runs the low cost airline easyJet, and promises to have airport and downtown locations in London, Glasgow and Barcelona by the end of this month, before expanding into Amsterdam, Geneva, Malaga and Nice. easyRentacar claims it can keep costs to a minimum by operating exclusively on-line, by avoiding on-airport locations, and by offering a uniform fleet. The company signed a contract for 3,200 Mercedes A-class at the Geneva Motor Show, covering the A140, A160 and A170 CDI models, and forecasts that it will need 30,000 cars next year. (April 2000)