Discussion: Hertz orders 100,000 Model 3's

[jabloomf1230]

Hertz better have a trained staff knowledgeable about EVs in general, and Tesla in particular, because the average Joe/Jane will encounter problems with how the car works, and its quirks, and issues.

Renting a Tesla is likely going to cost more than renting a entry level ICE car. This immediately culls the queue. What's left will be drivers who either have an EV (and understand regenerative braking) or those who will use the rental to learn about driving an EV.

 

[Darmie]

Renting a vehicle does invite excitement in the brand. Many will consider owning their own Tesla after their Hertz rental.
I did the same many years ago after renting an Oldsmobile Alero. At the time, I felt it made a great family car and was fun to own.

Alero pics

 

[CapeOne]

If you wanna keep speculating about stuff both totally unsupported by any known facts and directly contradicted by the Hertz website (or the basic math of the transaction) knock yourself out I guess.

You can also look at the overall rental fleet where they don't order multiple different trims of the same car for just about any model, that might help you.


But otherwise- the money math says they are SRs... the ease of safety concerns AND fleet management (esp with 100% LFP batteries) says it's SRs...and the literal specs at hertz.com says they're SRs.

While Hertz may tend to stick with one trim level (and not necessarily the entry trim level) for a particular model, it's not uncommon for them to offer models in different trims, powertrains, drive wheels, etc. It can be a mix. Do a search for vehicles currently available through Hertz Car Sales and you will see their ex-rental and Rent2Buy cars in various configurations e.g., current Chevy Impala offerings are around 42% LT and 58% Premier.

It would not be surprising to see AWD Teslas in an order this size but various details of the deal remain vague at this point.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

An SR+ will be no problem for most long distance driving. You'll still get 150-180 miles highway. Now, I wouldn't take it into deepest Wyoming or New Mexico but no problems for California, Texas, East coast etc.

impossible to visit the National Parks in Texas (Big Bend, Guadaloupe Mountain) or Lubbock etc in a SR+

 

[MaskedRacerX]

Renting a vehicle does invite excitement in the brand. Many will consider owning their own Tesla after their Hertz rental.

Yeah, by introducing 100K new EVs, and Teslas at that, into the rental channel, this will exposes a ton of people to an EV that wouldn't ordinarily consider one for ownership, while also getting a ton of additional ZEVs onto the road (which seems like a win-win).

 

[ThomasD]

They will most likely be in select markets.

 

[Knightshade]

impossible to visit the National Parks in Texas (Big Bend, Guadaloupe Mountain) or Lubbock etc in a SR+

Big Bend you could do, though it might require spending a little time using an L2 charger at the park (it's ~100 miles from Supercharger at Fort Stockton to Big Bend), and there's a number of L2 chargers around the park.

Only ~65 miles from Van Horn supercharger to Guadaloupe Mountain- so that seems doable without L2s unless you're doing like 100 miles at the park.

That said big western national parks seems like you might wanna rent a good-clearance 4x4 SUV or truck anyway, rather than a RWD sport sedan- that's certainly what I've done in the past on such trips.



Lubbock weirdly is the furthest, ~120ish miles to the nearest supercharger... though there's any number of L2s in town if you were staying there (including at several hotels, an RV park, and even Best Buy including Tesla chargers specifically).

Also- Q1 2022 target for a supercharger in Lubbock itself-(there's also apparently a gallery and service center permitted to be built there too)

Find Us | Tesla

Schedule a Tesla test drive at a time and date that is convenient for you.

www.tesla.com

 

[Knightshade]

That car reflects Hertz's limited currently available Tesla fleet but doesn't mean cars from the large 100k unit order being delivered by the end of 2022 won’t include vehicles with options and/or LR and Performance trim models. Some rental customers may want AWD, for example, which would require LR or Performance. Other customers may want/need cars with longer range than the SR+ provides. A mix of options/trim levels in a fleet order this size would not be surprising but again, there's not enough information available at this point.

4.2 billion.

100k cars.

Paid full retail price for each car (though likely written up before the last price hike)

Thus they must be 100% SRs. (which as noted has lots of other benefits- simplified single config, LFP batteries, etc)

Case closed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1452794619410927625

 

[TexasTezla]

impossible to visit the National Parks in Texas (Big Bend, Guadaloupe Mountain) or Lubbock etc in a SR+

You can do BB IF you stay at Big Bend Resort...they have 30A chargers...also Lubbock gets a supercharger in Q1 2022 apparently. I have a Tesmat to sleep in my car so I just book a spot in an RV camp and bingo! Charge while I sleep! Guadaloupe Mountain NP does seem tricky though at the moment! It wont be long before everywhere will have charging stations as EVs begin to outsell ICE

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Although it is certainly a way to get more attention/exposure for the brand (and obviously revenue and profit), I am kind of disappointed that Tesla is resorting to rental sales at this point if retail demand is still strong. Too many fleet/rental sales can hurt brand resale values (and image) especially when ex-rentals start to hit the market in large numbers.

Most other automakers rely on fleet/rental sales to some degree so I suppose it was inevitable that Tesla eventually would as well.

They aren't resorting to rental sales. A rental company has placed a large order at list price.

SR is the easiest one to meet, since they'll come from Shanghai and use LFP.

 

[TexasTezla]

They aren't resorting to rental sales. A rental company has placed a large order at list price.

SR is the easiest one to meet, since they'll come from Shanghai and use LFP.

It was obvious it could only be Tesla for Hertz. What other charging network even comes close to being both ubiquitous and so easy to use?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Hertz better have a trained staff knowledgeable about EVs in general, and Tesla in particular, because the average Joe/Jane will encounter problems with how the car works, and its quirks, and issues.

The average Joe/Jane isn't going to rent a Tesla. The people most likely to rent a Tesla are Tesla owners and other EV owners.

 

[Knightshade]

It was obvious it could only be Tesla for Hertz. What other charging network even comes close to being both ubiquitous and so easy to use?

Entirely outside of the charging issue, who else actually has 100k EVs of production in a year to sell them?

Mach Es entire first year of production is expected to be 50k cars total.

None of VWs BEVS sold more than like 30-35k first half of 2021 so far.

If you want 100k EVs (that are legal outside of China anyway) you're buying from Tesla because there's nobody else to buy from. The fact they have the best charging network is certainly a fantastic cherry on top though.

The average Joe/Jane isn't going to rent a Tesla. The people most likely to rent a Tesla are Tesla owners and other EV owners.

Nonsense, I rented one before I ever owned one- specifically to see if I'd want to own one.

Back then Turo was the only option, this is gonna open that experience up to tons more people.

 

[CapeOne]

4.2 billion.

100k cars.

Paid full retail price for each car (though likely written up before the last price hike)

Thus they must be 100% SRs. (which as noted has lots of other benefits- simplified single config, LFP batteries, etc)

Case closed.

Musk has had a history of misleading tweets including those that jeopardized his board seat and CEO status. I'll wait and see if more details of the deal are released before automatically assuming there was truly "no discount", no AWD cars are in the mix, etc. No need to further discuss with you until then.

 

[Knightshade]

Musk has had a history of misleading tweets including those that jeopardized his board seat and CEO status. I'll wait and see if more details of the deal are released before automatically assuming there was truly "no discount", no AWD cars are in the mix, etc. No need to further discuss with you until then.

Pretty clear now there wasn't a need to discuss it before either

 

[CapeOne]

They aren't resorting to rental sales. A rental company has placed a large order at list price.

SR is the easiest one to meet, since they'll come from Shanghai and use LFP.

Tesla is selling to a rental car company, that is resorting to rental sales. My issue is more about the potential impact on resales if/when these less desirable ex-rentals start to hit the used car market in meaningful volumes as that often drags down the resale of privately owned cars.

 

[SlimJim]

I used to rent cars when traveling.
Now, I use Lyft or Uber.

 

[ScoobyDoo82]

These will be SR+ vehicles. Their acceleration is slower than a number of performance ICE vehicles Hertz has been renting for decades.

Not seeing the cause for your concern.

I agree with this. Everybody swears that Teslas are ridiculously fast. They are.. if it’s a dual motor performance that is. An SR+ when restricted to chill mode is not any faster than what they are already renting. Sure, there will be people caught off guard with even the performance offered by the “slow” model - but not enough to sub this a bad idea. Besides.. a 4cyl turbo basic mustang or Camaro has 300 hp - Dodge Charger/Challenger rentals are around that level of performance too. The rental Toyota Avalon we had in Hawaii had 300 hp.. nobody is going to be getting into any more trouble with a rental Tesla as much as these cars currently offered.

Now, the frunk damage… that’ll be fun. The people getting stranded because they didn’t charge, the people distracted by the tech or not familiar with Autopilot/Autosteer.. this will be the real issue.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Entirely outside of the charging issue, who else actually has 100k EVs of production in a year to sell them?

Mach Es entire first year of production is expected to be 50k cars total.

None of VWs BEVS sold more than like 30-35k first half of 2021 so far.

If you want 100k EVs (that are legal outside of China anyway) you're buying from Tesla because there's nobody else to buy from. The fact they have the best charging network is certainly a fantastic cherry on top though.






Nonsense, I rented one before I ever owned one- specifically to see if I'd want to own one.

Back then Turo was the only option, this is gonna open that experience up to tons more people.

Yeah, before I got my Tesla at the end of last year, years before, if renting a Tesla was an option, I would have loved to do so just to experience it. Turo really was the only option and I would rather have rented at a place like Hertz (which I used plenty of for regular rentals), especially given I have rental car coverage with my card that I'm not sure Turo qualifies.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Tesla is selling to a rental car company, that is resorting to rental sales. My issue is more about the potential impact on resales if/when these less desirable ex-rentals start to hit the used car market in meaningful volumes as that often drags down the resale of privately owned cars.

I think the pushback is that "resorting" implies either they are dependent on it or they wanted it badly. Given Tesla is heavily production constrained right now (even moreso if this order is mostly or all SR+) and they gave zero discount (unlike typical rental/fleet deals) that is unlikely to be the case.

So Tesla is doing rental sales (which they did in the past before in Europe), but I would say "resorting" probably isn't the case.