City Car Club plans to increase its hire fleet by 50% in 2011 after securing £1.8m extra investment.

The business, which provides pay-as-you-go vehicle hire to members, will increase its 500 car fleet to 750 units as membership is also targeted to grow from 16,000 to 25,000.

City Car Club took over its rival WhizzGo last September to gain a foothold in the north of England.

James Finlayson, City Car Club’s largest shareholder and managing director, said: “Our strategic acquisition of WhizzGo, combined with a 90% growth in membership over the course of the last 12 months, meant we needed additional funding to keep up with demand.”

City Car Club has its largest operation in London plus others in Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Brighton, Bristol and seven other cities. The club will launch in Cardiff and Glasgow later this year.

The car club gives its members access to locally parked cars that can be booked online or over the phone at a moment’s notice for less than £5-an-hour.

Finlayson said City Car Club is set to hit month-on-month profitability from Q4 2010 and will continue to be profitable from this point.