UK rental companies are warily watching the moves of German rental giant Sixt following its acquisition of European Car Rental. Opinion is divided over Sixt's motives for coming to the UK, with some commentators seeing it simply as a move to support Sixt's German customers flying into the country, and others seeing it as the first step towards the establishment of a fully-fledged Sixt network in Britain.

Research organisation Marketline International believes Sixt's medium term objective is the establishment of a pan-European network of associations for the international business traveller. Sixt already caters for more than 40% of the German corporate rental market, and has gradually been expanding into Switzerland, Austria and France.

Through its ownership of the Budget franchise in Germany Sixt has been able to source vehicles overseas for its core customer base. But Budget has served Sixt with a termination notice for the franchise, leading to legal wranglings and writs issued by both sides.