Hertz Starts Dumping Its Fleet of EVs and Turns Toward ICE Vehicles, but Cathie Wood Doesn’t Think Tesla Is on the Chopping Block
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It was just over two years ago that Hertz spurred a fierce rally in Tesla shares when it announced its intention to buy 100,000 Tesla EVs. Now, as the EV mania has cooled down substantially, euphemistically speaking, Hertz is abandoning its aggressive EV push in favor of conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles.
Back in October 2023, Hertz had announced that it would slow down its pace of EV acquisition, citing Tesla's price cuts and their second-order effect on the residual value, as well as higher-than-expected repair costs for the company's growing EV fleet. At the time, the car rental company owned around 50,000 electric vehicles, including 35,000 Tesla EVs - a far cry from the company's original goal of acquiring around 100,000 Teslas.
“The company expects to reinvest a portion of the proceeds from the sale of EVs [one-third of the global EV fleet] into the purchase of internal combustion engine vehicles to meet customer demand,” said $HTZ
— notreload (@thudderwicks) January 11, 2024
Today, in a fresh filing with the SEC, Hertz announced that it would sell around one-third of its total EV fleet corresponding to 20,000 EVs, while absorbing $245 million in related costs. In what stands out as a striking reversal, the car rental company now intends to invest a portion of the sale proceeds into the purchase of ICE vehicles. While expanding on the rationale behind these moves, Hertz noted:
“This will position the company to eliminate a disproportionate number of lower margin rentals and reduce damage expense associated with EVs."
According to the company, these policy changes
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