Amit Kumar, Deputy General Manager at Dollar Car Rental Abu Dhabi, says 2026 will bring strong opportunities as tourism, population growth, and changing mobility preferences continue to reshape the UAE car rental market.

What opportunities do you foresee for 2026, and how do you plan to leverage them?
As we look ahead to 2026, the UAE car rental market continues to present strong opportunities, driven by sustained tourism growth, population expansion, and evolving mobility preferences. Ongoing infrastructure development, the opening of new leisure and lifestyle destinations, and a steady inflow of expatriates and business travellers are expected to support continued demand for short-term and flexible mobility solutions.

Dollar Car Rental plans to capitalize on these trends by strengthening its neighbourhood and community-based presence, complementing its established airport operations. We see growing demand for daily, weekly, and monthly rentals, particularly from residents and professionals seeking convenient, value-driven alternatives to car ownership. By optimizing our fleet mix, enhancing customer experience, and improving digital touchpoints, we aim to convert these macro trends into sustainable, repeat business.

What major challenges did you encounter this year, and how did you address them?
One of the key challenges this year was operating in a highly competitive and price-sensitive environment, alongside rising operational costs related to fleet acquisition, maintenance, and logistics. At the same time, customer expectations around speed, transparency, and digital convenience have continued to rise.

We viewed these challenges as an opportunity to improve our processes and customer touchpoints, allowing us to position ourselves ahead of the industry curve. Our response focused on tighter cost controls, smarter fleet utilization, digitising key processes, and driving operational efficiencies across locations. Greater emphasis was placed on data-driven decision-making to balance pricing competitiveness with profitability. On the customer side, we enhanced service standards, streamlined booking and vehicle handover processes, and reinforced consistency across all touchpoints to protect both brand reputation and customer loyalty.

Can you elaborate on your strategic partnerships this year and plans for next year?
Strategic partnerships remain a cornerstone of Dollar Car Rental’s growth strategy in the UAE. This year, we strengthened collaborations with corporate clients, travel partners, digital booking platforms, and property developers, enabling us to diversify demand sources beyond traditional channels.

Looking ahead to 2026, we plan to deepen partnerships within community hubs, residential developments, hospitality players, and the wider mobility ecosystem. These alliances will allow us to place the brand closer to end users, generate steady local demand, enhance visibility, and scale efficiently while maintaining operational discipline.

What will be your primary focus areas and strategic priorities for 2026?
Our strategic priorities for 2026 will center on sustainable growth, superior customer experience, and operational excellence. Key focus areas include:

• Expanding our presence in high-potential community and mixed-use locations
• Optimizing fleet mix to better align with evolving customer usage patterns
• Enhancing the customer journey through faster, more transparent, and seamless processes
• Strengthening brand consistency across all physical and digital touchpoints

In parallel, we will continue investing in people development and training, recognizing that service quality and human interaction remain critical differentiators in the car rental industry.

Are there plans to explore new markets or introduce new products/applications in 2026?
While the UAE remains our core market, we see opportunities to expand our customer base by focusing on international inbound traffic from key source markets. In addition, our growth strategy emphasizes deeper penetration into underserved micro-markets and emerging residential zones, rather than purely geographic expansion. These include community malls, business districts, and residential clusters where demand is steady but convenience remains limited.

We also plan to introduce more self-service kiosks at strategic customer hubs, bringing our services closer to customers and enhancing accessibility. From a product perspective, we are evaluating more flexible rental solutions, including tailored short-term packages, long-term leasing options, and Lease-to-Own products, designed to cater to a broader customer base and evolving mobility needs. Continued investment in digital and mobile-first booking experiences will further support this strategy.

How is your company approaching sustainability, digital transformation, or AI adoption in preparation for 2026?
Sustainability and digital transformation are integral to Dollar Car Rental’s long-term strategy. On the sustainability front, we are progressively optimizing our fleet composition by introducing more fuel-efficient and hybrid vehicles where feasible, alongside improved maintenance practices to reduce environmental impact. We are also open to inducting electric vehicles (EVs) into our fleet as the supporting infrastructure continues to evolve.

Once conditions are conducive for retail customers, we are well positioned to scale our EV offering rapidly. Digitally, our focus remains on enhancing online booking platforms, leveraging analytics to better understand customer behaviour, and automating internal processes to improve efficiency and responsiveness. AI-driven insights are being explored for demand forecasting, fleet planning, and pricing optimization, enabling smarter decision-making while preserving a strong human-led service culture.

Our fully paperless rental experience reduces waste while improving speed and simplicity for customers. We continue to evolve this digital ecosystem to ensure both individual renters and corporate clients benefit from a seamless, end-to-end online experience across rental and leasing products. AI plays an increasingly important role in the design and optimization of our processes and customer touchpoints, complementing — not replacing — the human touch that remains central to our service philosophy.