Hertz CEO Talks Tesla 'Deal': Wants To Lead EV Adoption

Former Ford CEO Mark Fields, who's now interim CEO at Hertz, opens up about the Tesla deal.

Tesla Model 3 in Hertz EV fleet

Steven Loveday

By: Steven Loveday

Nov 10, 2021 at 9:41am ET

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Interim CEO at Hertz rental car company Mark Fields – who was formerly a CEO at Ford – recently talked about the future with Yahoo! Finance. He said he's excited about the deal with Tesla, which he says, despite Elon Musk's words and that of the media, is actually a deal and is happening as part of major efforts to rebuild Hertz.

Not only is Fields thrilled about what's in store for the future with Hertz in general, as well as its relationship with Tesla, but also he's ready to take the reigns and be the new leader in promoting . If people rent a Tesla, there's a very good chance they'll want to buy one, and even if they can't afford a Tesla, you'd better bet many will be looking at an electric car down the road.

While current Ford CEO Jim Farley is getting loads of credit these days for the automaker's EV push, Yahoo! says Fields is actually the man responsible for "planting the seeds" for Ford's transition to electric cars. Fields shared on Yahoo! Finance Live:

"We are excited about the Tesla relationship. It's all wrapped around our strategy to lead the adoption of electric vehicles."

For background, Hertz announced that it ordered 100,000 Tesla Model 3 sedans for its fleet, and it expected to see them all delivered prior to the end of 2022. In addition, 50,000 of those cars, or perhaps even additional Teslas, will be made available to Uber drivers in the future.

After Tesla's stock surged on the news, CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter and explained that there was no official contract signed and Hertz is paying full price for the cars. The statement makes some people assume Hertz just ordered the cars on Tesla's website as any person can do. The website shows delivery times stretching into late 2022, so Hertz was fair in saying it expected the cars to be delivered by then.

Fields made it clear once again that everything is actually set with Tesla, and the 100,000 cars have already been ordered. He shared:

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"So we are starting a great relationship with Tesla. We are also ready to partner with many other manufacturers to extend our lead in the adoptions of electric vehicles. But clearly we are going to work I think very collaboratively with Tesla. Importantly, our consumers really want to drive Teslas and we want to be there to be able to provide those products for them. We are very excited about the relationship going forward."

In the meantime, after working to come out of bankruptcy, Hertz launched its "re-IPO" this week. The company raised $1.3 billion in an offering on Monday.

See More Hertz / Tesla News:

Tesla & Hertz Both Right About 'Non-Deal,' Different Perspectives