A number of the world’s largest rental car companies are being forced to call off purchases of new cars as the travel sector continues to be battered by the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg reports.
According to a spokesman from General Motors, the automaker has agreed to take back many new vehicles that were on their way to Hertz, Avis Budget, and Enterprise. Hyundai added that it too has redirected some vehicles to retailers which were initially bound for fleet customers.
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In April, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles compiled a list of almost 30,000 vehicles rental-car companies had purchased and circulated it to other prospective fleet customers. However, attempts to transfer some of these vehicles to other customers fell through. Car manufacturers are expected to feel the pinch due to waning rental car fleet sales for months to come.
Fleet deliveries account for roughly 20 per cent of the vehicles sold in the United States and most of these go through the rental car channel. An unnamed source asserts that Hertz, Avis and Enterprise have canceled all orders of GM vehicles for May, June and into July. In a recent filing released shortly after being saved from bankruptcy, Hertz said it doesn’t expect to purchase any new vehicles this year.
Cox Automotive reports that U.S. rental car sales plunged by 77 per cent to 32,944 vehicles in April, less than half the next-lowest monthly sales total in the last seven years.
GM spokesman Jim Cain has confirmed that the car manufacturer has taken back some cars from rental companies and sent them to dealerships who need inventory. Sales vice president at Hyundai’s U.S. subsidiary added that “as government’s start to lift restrictions and people start to travel, fleet will rebound.”
