Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter last night to say that “no contract has been signed yet” with Hertz on a deal that saw the automaker’s valuation hit a $1 trillion market cap.
Hertz announced on October 25 that it was making an “initial order of 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022.” Following the announcement, many analysts and investors took the initial order as a sign that EVs and, more specifically, Teslas had reached a tipping point and were now mainstream. Musk’s latest tweet indicates, though, that the deal has not gone through yet.
While there is no suggestion that the deal won’t go through, Musk said it “has zero effect on our economics.” He also said that if the deal goes through, the rental car company will have to pay the same price as consumers.
Read More: Hertz Just Made The Largest Single Order Of Electric Cars Buying 100,000 Teslas Worth $4.2 Billion
You’re welcome!
If any of this is based on Hertz, I’d like to emphasize that no contract has been signed yet.
Tesla has far more demand than production, therefore we will only sell cars to Hertz for the same margin as to consumers.
Hertz deal has zero effect on our economics.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2021
“Tesla has far more demand than production, therefore we will only sell cars to Hertz for the same margin as to consumers,” he wrote.
That would be a favorable deal for Tesla since most rental car companies buy their vehicles at a discount. Hertz recently came out of bankruptcy and its interim CEO, Mark Fields, told CNBC last month that the company started talking to Tesla months ago about the order, adding that the company would be happy to also offer other automakers’ electric vehicles.
Since the initial Hertz announcement, Tesla stock has surged around 33 percent but Musk questioned the rapid rise early on, tweeting on October 25 that it was “strange” that the deal moved the company’s valuation, since “Tesla is very much a production ramp problem, not a demand problem.”
Since last night’s tweets that there is no ink on the paper on the deal, the automaker’s valuation dropped around 4 percent in pre-market trading.
Strange that moved valuation, as Tesla is very much a production ramp problem, not a demand problem
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2021