Yahoo Autos These Automakers Stand to Lose the Most from Hertz Bankruptcy
Rental giant Hertz had been attempting to avoid a bankruptcy in recent weeks, sparked by a significant drop in airline and other travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the companies that stand to lose business in this domino effect are automakers. Bloomberg reports that Hertz has canceled 90 percent of its new-car orders for the 2020 model year, which will in turn hurt automakers' fleet sales for the rest of this year.
General Motors has been the single biggest supplier for the Hertz fleet of 567,000 vehicles in the United States, with GM models making up 21 percent of its fleet, spanning several brands. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has been its second biggest supplier, contributing to 18 percent of its domestic fleet. Ford has been in the third spot, contributing to 12 percent of its fleet, while Kia models have accounted for 10 percent of the fleet. Toyota, Nissan, and Hyundai vehicles accounted for 9 percent, 7 percent, and 5 percent of the Hertz fleet, respectively.
Of course, the rental giant's fleet is in constant rotation and does not purchase 567,000 cars for its U.S. operations every year, but rather keeps vehicles in its U.S. operations for 18 months. Hertz's international fleet of 204,000 vehicles is usually kept for 12 months, Bloomberg notes. Overall, fleet sales tend to account for approximately 20 percent of the Detroit Three automakers' sales.
For its two most significant fleet suppliers, GM and FCA, this adds up to approximately 100,000 vehicles sold to Hertz by each automaker over a time period lasting about a year and a half. In recent weeks General Motors has even taken back cars that were headed to Hertz locations.
