Electric Roadblocks for Polestar and Hertz After 2022 Deal

EV manufacturer Polestar and car rental company Hertz are in a dispute over car sales, after a 2022 deal turned sour. 

The two companies agreed that Hertz would buy 65,000 Polestar cars over five years. Yet after poor EV sales in 2023, Hertz began selling off a portion of its electric vehicle fleet. 

Polestar has responded to this with some demands to protect its own stock.

Navigating electric roads amidst fleet expansion ambitions

Polestar is an electric performance brand, determined to ‘improve the society we live in’ with innovative electric vehicles. Based in Göteborg, Sweden, the company was founded in 2017 and has just released its much anticipated Polestar 4. The car features dual blade headlights, frameless side-view mirrors and interior lighting which is inspired by the solar system. 

Vehicle rental brand Hertz is a car sharing business based in Florida, which was founded in 1918, just two decades after the first commercial cars went on sale. Recently, the company set its sight on expanding its fleet with electric vehicles to meet the demands of the modern customer. But things have come to an uncomfortable halt with Polestar as the company is now selling off its EV stock. 

CEO Thomas Ingenlath has said Polestar has agreed to waive Hertz's requirement to purchase more of its cars, providing Hertz agrees to certain terms, including holding onto its present stock of Polestars for more than a year. 

Polestar also retains the right of first refusal, if Hertz ever wants to take one of their vehicles out of the fleet, due to the potential of this causing a fire sale which would negatively impact Polestar.

As Polestar has also lost funding from Volvo, the company is trying to protect its fleet and the sale price of new vehicles.

Sustainability LIVE Net Zero welcomes Polestar's Fredrika Klarén

On 6th March, the upcoming Sustainability LIVE Net Zero will host some of the world’s most influential players in the electric vehicle movement - sign up here. 

Fredrika Klarén, Head of Sustainability at Polestar, will join the conversation, having spoken at COP28 on some crucial points within the EV industry last year. 

“This was the third COP that Polestar attended,” she says. “We started with COP26 in Glasgow, really eager to see how other automotive companies would show up and the dialogue around. In Glasgow we had this zero-emission vehicle declaration that we had high hopes for. The result: very few car companies signed that.”

With sustainability at her core, Klarén is a great fit for Polestar, with her commitments aligned to those of the business. Read her exclusive interview with Sustainability magazine here. 

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