Hertz Drains Special Edition Corvette, Camaro From Rental Fleet

Reeling from the pandemic-born financial crisis, Hertz is unloading some particularly cost-intensive vehicles from its rental fleet. While plenty of these vehicles are old stock it would have had to get rid of eventually, Hertz is limiting fleet turnover this year, recently cancelling roughly 90 percent of new vehicle orders it had on the books for 2020. The company’s also selling some of the special performance vehicles slotted into its lineup every year ⁠— and not all of them seem to have accrued the kind of mileage that would normally warrant a sale.

We’ve chronicled the rental agency’s plight for a while now; Hertz seems to be on the brink of declaring bankruptcy, making it a good case study for the perils confronting auto rental groups everywhere. While we don’t think selling a handful of high-horsepower Chevrolets will be anyone’s saving grace, it might help Hertz scrounge up some loose cash — and provide a half-decent opportunity for enthusiasts to procure a bargain project car.

Jalopnik was the first outfit to notice the rental agency listing C7 Corvette models painted in its signature color on Autotrader. Most are Z06 variants from 2019, priced as though they were a couple years older than listed. Granted, ‘Vettes enlisted by the rental firm probably suffered a few incredibly hard miles and exchanged hands frequently. That said, they also come with the 3LZ equipment package, something that would have resulted in an MSRP dangerously close to $100,000 when they were new.

Today, you can find those same Z06s hovering around $60,000 with less than 30,000 miles on the odometer ⁠— assuming you’re actively browsing for one on the Hertz website. Cars come with the 6.2-liter supercharged LT4 V8 boasting 650 horsepower that can give the base mid-engined C8 a run for its money in a straight line, with loads of creature comforts on the side. However, if you’re wholly preoccupied with track handling, a base-model C8 may still be the way to go.

Of course, if the Corvette is not to your liking, Hertz is also getting rid of Camaros. Like the Z06, these cars also utilize the corporate color palate ⁠— with black swapped as the dominant hue. Hertz Edition Camaros also come in two flavors, neither of which have been left stock. SS models come equipped with an aftermarket air intake and an upgraded cat-back exhaust system, pushing peak output to 480 hp. Meanwhile, Hertz LT1s were equipped with a Callaway SC750 supercharger that brought the 6.2-liter V8 to a whopping 750 horsepower.

The latter of the two have proven difficult to find online and would likely out-price the yellow-and-black C7s by several thousand dollars. Yet the SS models can be found rather easily (with examples from the 2020 model year). That said, some seem to be priced a little high when you consider someone could just buy a brand new Camaro SS directly from Chevrolet and still have cash leftover for options. One item that cannot be had with any of the Hertz cars is a manual transmission, however.

[Images: General Motors; Hertz]