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Hertz counter in Zurich: The car rental company relies on Tesla's electric drive
Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS
With a large order from the electric car manufacturer Tesla, the US car rental company Hertz wants to reposition itself in the competitive rental car market.
Hertz announced that 100,000 cars had been ordered from Tesla and should be delivered by the end of 2022, thereby confirming a report by the Bloomberg news agency.
Hertz should soon have the largest fleet of electric cars in North America.
As Bloomberg reported, citing Insider, the car rental company can cost about 4.2 billion dollars.
The cheapest sedan from the Elon Musk group, the Model 3, starts at around $ 44,000 list price.
On offer from November
In the first nine months of the year, Tesla delivered a total of almost 630,000 vehicles, so the size of the order is considerable.
According to Bloomberg, the order signals that the Sixt competitor is probably paying almost the list price.
The vehicles are to be delivered in the next 14 months, as it was said.
Tesla shares rose more than four percent in pre-market US trading.
With the order, Hertz is also trying to escape.
The company filed for bankruptcy last year when the demand for travel fell during the pandemic and discussions with creditors did not bring any improvement.
"Electric vehicles are now mainstream, and we have only just begun to see the increasing global demand and interest," Hertz interim chief Mark Fields said, according to a statement.
The company was saved by a group of investors including Knighthead Capital Management, Certares Opportunities, and Apollo Capital Management.
The purchase of the vehicles is Hertz's first major initiative since the bankruptcy proceedings ended.
The car rental company's customers should be able to book the new Tesla vehicles from November.
In addition to the order, Hertz announced that they would soon be installing several thousand charging stations.
apr / dpa / Reuters / AP
