Centauro Car Rental Celebrates 45 Years in Service

Spanish car rental company Centauro is celebrating 45 years serving visitors to Spain, with an expansion of their fleet to reach 20,000 vehicles.

So far this year, the company has opened six new offices at key locations, four in the main airports in Italy, one in Portugal and one in Barcelona.

In a statement, the company reveals that this is not the end of their 2018 year expansion, “We are very happy to be able to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of Centauro Rent a Car in one of the sweetest moments in the history of the company. Operating for the first time in Italy has been a milestone for and we continue working with the same enthusiasm as the first years to expand our presence in new national and European destinations throughout this year, these new operations will allow us to grow both in terms of employment and fleet,” said the company’s CEO, Erik Devesa.

The company, founded by the Devesa family, started its activity in 1973 in the Costa Blanca town of Benidorm, with a fleet of just six cars, all of the tiny Seat 600 model, and began its internationalisation in 2015. During its first 25 years it developed its business in the Valencian Community, including a base in Torrevieja where the property boom helped them serve a new wave of international investors, and in Murcia. Two decades later, in 1998, the firm extended its horizon towards new national tourist destinations, such as Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Jerez or Seville. That same year it became the first national vehicle rental company to launch an e-commerce platform.

In 2017, David Devesa moved over as sole administrator of the company, making way for his brother Erik to take over the role as President. The other members of the board are subsidiaries of the venture capital fund, Portobello Alfa SL, Portobello Beta SL and Portobello Gamma SL were appointed directors, in addition to Burley Inversiones, which is also owned by the fund manager, and as a non-advisory secretary, Ramón Cerdeiras, a State attorney on leave of absence and one of the founding partners of Portobello.

The family are also involved in other tourism based companies in Benidorm. Amongst others, Fadesik manages the Aparthotel Levante (the first business launched by their father, Francisco Devesa), fuel filling stations in Benidorm, and a travel agency, Viajes Dinamic SL.

Centauro Rent a Car has 14 offices in Spain distributed in the main tourist destinations of the coast (Mallorca, Ibiza, Alicante, Benidorm, Torrevieja, Murcia and Malaga), urban (Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Seville) and airports and high-speed train stations, in addition to establishments in Italy and Portugal.