Car hire company Hertz to replace its chief executive
Car hire company Hertz will replace its chief executive, the company announced on Friday.
Gil West, the former chief operating officer at Delta Airlines, will join Hertz on April 1, Hertz said in a statement.
West will succeed Stephen Scherr, who has decided to step down as chief executive on March 31. The pair will work together over the next several weeks to ensure a smooth transition, Hertz said.
Earlier this year the company revealed it was planning to sell a third of its global fleet of electric cars and would use some of the funds to buy vehicles with combustion engines instead.
Making the announcement in January, Hertz said the decision was prompted by the need to adapt its vehicle range to suit current customer demand.
Over the course of the year, 20,000 electric cars of various brands are to be sold in the United States. Hertz said it was prepared to accept an additional write-down of $245 million for this step.
In autumn 2021, Hertz had announced the purchase of 100,000 Tesla vehicles. This was later followed by announcements of orders for 175,000 electric cars from General Motors and 65,000 from Polestar.
The company's strategy changed last year when Hertz announced its intention to slow down the growth of electric cars in its fleet.
Reasons given included Tesla's repeated price cuts, and that repairs for damage to electric vehicles are around twice as expensive as for vehicles with combustion engines.
