Trouble and turmoil continue at rental car company Hertz.
In the most recent quarter, Hertz took a $245 million hit to its earnings due to a drop in value of the EVs it was selling.
And the drop in prices hit Hertz bottom line since it reduced the money it could expect to get from reselling the vehicles.
But the problem for Hertz wasn’t necessarily that the cars were electric, and customers simply do not want to drive electric cars.
By hewing to charging rules the way Hertz has enforced refueling rules, it may have dissuaded customers from wanting to rent an electric car.
Hertz had announced it would buy 100,000 EVs from Tesla in October of 2021, just before it had its initial public offering following its emergence from bankruptcy.
Fields’ predecessor as CEO, Paul Stone, stayed on as president and chief operating officer of Hertz, posts he held until resigning this past September. »
