(Bloomberg) — Hertz Global Holdings Inc. said it finished selling off 30,000 electric vehicles, many of which were Tesla Inc. models, as the rental giant moves on from an ill-advised bet on plug-in cars that customers didn’t want and were expensive to maintain.
The headlong push into EVs contributed to a loss of $2.9 billion in 2024, Hertz said Thursday in a statement that detailed fourth-quarter earnings. The company lost $1.18 a share on an adjusted basis in the quarter, worse than the 73-cent deficit expected by analysts, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Hertz shares pared an early drop of as much as 14%, falling 11% to $3.79 as of 9:40 a.m. in New York.
Since taking over in April of last year, Chief Executive Officer Gil West has sought to get rid of the battery-powered models and start with a fresh fleet of lower-maintenance cars, positioning the business for more profitable growth. His plan is to match Hertz’s fleet more closely with consumer preferences in the rental market, and move forward with operational improvements that it expects to complete by the end of 2025.
The company showed improvement in depreciation costs, which fell 16% to $422 a vehicle per month, but that is still high compared with historical levels of less than $300. Hertz said it’s changing over vehicles in its fleet to bring depreciation costs in line with more normal levels.
Hertz improved its utilization rate slightly to 79%. It has targeted 80% or better in the past.
(Updates from third paragraph with opening shares.)
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