Polestar is to provide rental giant Hertz with up to 65,000 electric vehicles over five years for both its retail and rideshare fleets.

The new global partnership will see Hertz purchase up to 65,000 Polestar electric vehicles EVs over the next five years

The global deal will start to roll out in spring 2022 in Europe and late 2022 in North America and Australia, driving the Hertz commitment to lead in electrification, shared mobility and a digital-first customer experience.

It follows the company’s announcement last October that it will offer its customers the largest EV rental fleet in North America and one of the largest in the world.

Stephen Scherr, Hertz CEO, said: “Today’s partnership with Polestar further builds on our ambition to become a leading participant in the modern mobility ecosystem and doing so as an environmentally-forward company. By working with EV industry leaders like Polestar, we can help accelerate the adoption of electrification while providing renters, corporate customers and rideshare partners a premium EV product, exceptional experience and lower carbon footprint.”

The Hertz deal will kick off with the Polestar 2, with other models expected to follow. The Polestar 3 electric SUV arrives later this year, followed by the Polestar 4 in 2023 and the flagship 5 saloon in 2025.

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, added: “The partnership with a global pioneer like Hertz will bring the amazing experience of driving an electric car to a wider audience, satisfying a broad variety of our mutual customers’ short- and longer-term mobility requirements. For many of them it may be the first time they have driven an EV, and it will be a Polestar.”

Polestar revealed in January 2022 that it had delivered on its global sales target of 29,000 vehicles in 2021, representing year-on-year growth exceeding 185%. It now expects to more than double volumes again this year and predicts that it will reach 290,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2025.