A historic vehicle rental company, the Hertz agency narrowly escaped bankruptcy last year as a result of the pandemic. Thanks to a refinancing of investors from Knighthead Capital Management and Certares Management to the tune of 5.9 billion, the company was able to recover and look to the future.
For this, Hertz plans to electrify almost all of its fleet of 500,000 cars and vans in several stages. This time, the agency announced its intention to purchase 65,000 Polestar-branded vehicles over 5 years.
Polestar, a direct competitor for Tesla
This Volvo sub-brand represents one of the most interesting alternatives to Tesla. The brand has only released two models so far: a Polestar 1 hybrid coupe (from $155,000) and the Polestar 2 sedan (from $49,000).
The agreement between the 2 companies has not been disclosed, but based on the base price of the most accessible model, it could amount to just over $3 billion. However, Hertz clarified that this agreement to extend to future vehicles of the brand, namely:
The Polestar 3 SUV planned for this year
- The Polestar 4 compact SUV for 2023
- The Polestar 5 sports sedan for 2024
A Polestar O2 roadster concept was also shown, but it seems unlikely to find it in this deal.
This announcement follows that concerning the proposed purchase of 100,000 Tesla vehicles, which had the effect of driving up the action of Elon Musk’s company soaring. To see if the effect will be the same on that of Volvo’s parent company.