Why Hertz’s Big Bet on Teslas Didn’t Work | Big Take

When Wall Street investors Tom Wagner and Greg O’Hara took over Hertz, they had ambitious plans. They aimed to revolutionize the car rental business by bringing a record number of electric vehicles into Hertz’s fleet, including 100,000 Teslas. And when Hertz’s IPO launched in 2021, it seemed Wagner and O’Hara had just made a visionary deal.
EVs were hot when Hertz started buying them. But as Bloomberg reporters Erik Schatzker and David Welch tell host Sarah Holder, the company would soon discover that making them work in the rental market was another challenge entirely.
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[@chow-chihuang4903]

Good report, though one of the biggest reasons for EV adoption S-curve in the US has slowed is the lack of affordable EVs. The market for $55-150k EVs has saturated, and the brands don’t offer or refuse to offer models at lower price points.
Had flat screen TVs remained $20k or higher, they wouldn’t have proliferated as they had. Their adoption rapidly accelerated once good options below $1k were available.
The same occurred with mobile phones, and then smartphones, and before that, personal computers, CD, DVD and Blur-ray players.
The EV adoption curve continues to accelerate in markets where EVs are available at price points down to sub-5k USD. GM, for instance, killed off their $25k-ish model, the Bolt, which was their biggest seller EV. Ford doesn’t have an EV at all in that price range. Nor does Chrysler/Jeep. Asia, including Australia and New Zealand, have models from BYD, MG, etc. While priced higher than in their domestic China market, they offer models priced lower than Tesla, Polestar, VW, etc. Several are available in many EU countries. Heck, GM has sold the Menlo EV in China for several years at a roughly 18k USD price point. Their new Equinox EV looks a lot like it, except with much larger rims and a 40k USD price tag.
Frankly, if the US brands don’t offer affordable models, they should not obstruct affordable models from entering the US market.

[@eriklee1794]

If you have money invested in hertz.....I highly recommend you dump pull what's left of your money

[@user-ew5eh2co5p]

US is way behind in technology and infrastructure.