Hertz links up with Uber to offer 50,000 Tesla rentals

October 28, 2021

Hertz Global Holdings  announced on Wednesday, October  27, that it is linking up with Uber Technologies  to make 50,000 Teslas available in Uber’s ride-sharing network by 2023—the latest in the rental-car firm’s efforts to build momentum postbankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Hertz Global Holdings is the parent company of Hertz, an American car rental company based in Estero, Florida.  The deal comes days after Hertz, which collapsed into bankruptcy at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, said it is making a significant investment in an EV rental fleet—including an initial order of 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022 and new EV-charging infrastructure across the globe.

The company exited Chapter 11 in June and has a planned stock listing coming later this year.

The Teslas it intends to add to the Uber network will come from the 100,000 vehicle order revealed earlier this week and future orders as the program grows.

The latest deals are part of a broader strategy by the postbankruptcy Hertz to modernize its operations and fleets—leveraging new tech to improve logistics and give customers more options, particularly on plug-in electric models, said Mark Fields, Hertz’s interim chief executive.

“One of the biggest benefits of a restructuring like ours is it gives us a fresh perspective,” Fields said in an interview with the Journal. “It allows us to take the approach of instead of saying ‘why?’—‘why not?’”

Fields, a veteran auto industry executive and former Ford CEO, was named to his latest post earlier this month.

The Journal notes that the deal between Hertz and Tesla led to a big stock-market rally for the electric-car maker this week. Tesla’s stock, which more than doubled this past year, shot up to $1,024.86 a share Monday, pushing the company’s value north of $1 trillion for the first time.

The deal also aided Hertz’s shares, which have been traded over the counter since the company was delisted in the summer of 2020. Hertz’s shares rose roughly 10% to $27.17 Monday.

The rental-car firm plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq in the fourth quarter of this year, under its previous ticker symbol, HTZ. The listing will mark a comeback for Hertz.

Research contact: @WSJ

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