(Reuters) – Tesla Inc and Hertz Global Holdings Inc are working out how quickly the rental car company can receive deliveries from its large order of Tesla’s electric cars, the Wall Street Journal https://on.wsj.com/3BLgDFm reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Tesla and Hertz did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Last week, Hertz said it placed an initial order of 100,000 Teslas. Interim Hertz Chief Executive Mark Fields told Reuters the order will primarily be Model 3 vehicles. The announcement, triggered a meteoric rally in the carmaker’s stock helping the company surpass $1 trillion in market value.
However, Tesla boss Elon Musk took to Twitter on Monday to say that his company had not signed a contract with Hertz, spurring a brief halt in Tesla’s stock rally.
In response to Musk’s comments, Hertz said in a statement that the deliveries of the Teslas had already started.
“We are seeing very strong early demand for Teslas in our rental fleet, which reflects market demand for Tesla vehicles,” Hertz said on Tuesday.
The company has already started advertising its Tesla fleet on websites and in a series of YouTube commercials featuring National Football League (NFL) quarterback Tom Brady.
Shares of Tesla, which were up 2.3% at $1,242 in premarket trading, have rallied adding about $350 billion to its market value since Oct. 20, when it reported robust third-quarter results.
(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
