Technology
Car rental company Hertz orders 65,000 Polestar electric cars
According to the latest report, car rental company Hertz announced on Monday that it will significantly increase its number of electric vehicles, planning to order up to 65,000 electric vehicles from Swedish electric vehicle company Polestar and deploy them in Europe, North America, and Australia.
It is reported that this batch of new car orders will be completed within five years. The Polestar car will be available in Europe in spring 2022 and in North America and Australia by the end of 2022.
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Neither Hertz nor Polestar disclosed the financial terms of the deal, but the latter’s Polestar 2 sedans start at $49,000, and if Hertz paid full price for the cars, the deal would be worth about $3.18 billion.
This isn’t Hertz’s first large-scale electric vehicle purchase, as the company has previously placed a large order for 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla to electrify its global fleet. The news sent Tesla shares soaring, pushing its market value to more than $1 trillion.
Hertz reported that it had about 500,000 vehicles in its global fleet last year. The more than 100-year-old company nearly went bankrupt last year amid the pandemic, and its massive debt nearly wiped out its business, but it ended up with $5.9 billion in financing from investors led by Knighthead Capital Management and Certares Management.
Polestar, the high-performance vehicle sub-brand jointly owned by Volvo and its Chinese company Geely, has become one of the more closely watched EV companies in the market in recent years.
The company recently announced plans to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Polestar has positioned itself as a Tesla competitor with a focus on sleek, high-end cars made with sustainable materials.
So far, Polestar has only released two models, except the Polestar 2, the other is the Polestar 1, a $155,000 hybrid coupe. Polestar’s lineup will continue to expand with the release of the Polestar 3 SUV in 2022, the Polestar 4 compact SUV in 2023, and the Polestar 5 sports sedan in 2024.
Furthermore, the company also unveiled a sleek sports car concept called the Polestar O2. Polestar sold 29,000 cars last year. The company expects its annual sales to reach 290,000 by the end of 2025.
Stephen Scherr, CEO of Hertz, said in a statement: “We are delighted to be partnering with Polestar and look forward to bringing their premium electric vehicle offerings to our retail and rental car fleets. The partnership with Polestar furthers Strengthening our ambition, we want to be a major player in the modern mobility ecosystem and be an environmental pioneer.
By partnering with electric vehicle industry leaders like Polestar, we can help accelerate the adoption of electrification, while providing benefits for tenants, businesses Customers and rental car partners deliver a premium EV product, a great experience, and a lower carbon footprint.”
Thomas Ingenlath, chief executive of Polestar, said the deal was also very good for the company, not just because it would get a lot of revenue from sales. He explained: “Partnering with Hertz will bring more Hertz customers the wonderful experience of driving an electric vehicle, meeting the diverse needs of our mutual customers for short-term and long-term mobility. For many of them, this may It’s the first time they’ve driven an electric car, and it’s going to be a Polestar.”
Assuming that renting a Hertz-owned Polestar works the same way as renting a Tesla car from the company, customers may enjoy some form of free fast charging. When returning the car, a minimum of 10% charge may be required. Polestar has a charging partnership with ChargePoint, where new Polestar 2 users can enjoy unlimited 30-minute fast charging for two years at Electrify America stores.