Tesla cars might be hard to buy in the near future.
U.S. rental car company Hertz has placed an order for 100,000 Teslas, to be delivered by the end of 2022, the company announced in a press release. Hertz has also ordered new EV charging infrastructure to be installed across its operations globally.
Hertz says this will make it the owner of the largest EV rental fleet in North America, and one of the largest in the world.
The deal represents US$4.2 billion in revenue for Tesla, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter.
"The new Hertz is going to lead the way as a mobility company, starting with the largest EV rental fleet in North America and a commitment to grow our EV fleet and provide the best rental and recharging experience for leisure and business customers around the world," interim CEO Mark Fields said in a statement.
Note the "interim" bit. The company was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic; it filed for bankruptcy in May 2020. The company emerged from bankruptcy in July of this year after a financial injection from new investors. Fields, the former CEO of Ford, joined the Hertz board of directors in June, and was named interim CEO earlier this month.
It's a bold move for Hertz's new management, but it's also notable for anyone who's thinking about getting new a Tesla. The company can currently produce about 1 million cars per year, making Hertz's purchase roughly 10 percent of Tesla's production capacity.
A few days ago, Tesla increased the prices of its Model S and Model X cars by US$5,000 as it struggles to keep up with the rising demand. The company also recently increased the base prices of the Model 3 and Model Y by US$2,000, and delivery times for all models have been increasing.
Add to that the global chip shortage (which, to be fair, hasn't affected Tesla as it has many other automakers), and supply chain delays, and it'll probably be pretty hard to get a new Tesla delivered to your door in the next year or so.
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