Elon Musk says Tesla has not signed deal with Hertz

Elon Musk has said a deal between Tesla and car rental company Hertz, which led the carmaker's market value to surpass $1 trillion last week, has not yet been signed.

Last week, shares in Tesla jumped 12.6% after Hertz said it had ordered 100,000 vehicles by the end of 2022.

However, Mr Musk tweeted: "I'd like to emphasize that no contract has been signed yet."

Both companies have been asked for comment.

The deal announced by Hertz with Tesla was the biggest-ever rental car order for electric vehicles.

"Electric vehicles are now mainstream, and we've only just begun to see rising global demand and interest," said Hertz interim boss Mark Fields.

It was reported Hertz would pay $4.2bn for 100,000 Model 3s over the next 14 months, which amounts to about a fifth of its fleet. The rental firm would also build a network of charging stations.

But on Tuesday, Tesla boss Mr Musk tweeted: "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."

Tesla became the fifth company to surpass a market value of $1 trillion on 25 October, behind Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google-owner Alphabet.