Avis Budget Group is a Parsippany, New Jersey-based global provider of mobility solutions operating the Avis, Budget, Zipcar, and broader portfolio of rental car brands across approximately 180 countries and approximately 10,000 rental locations worldwide, and the company is in the middle of a fiscal second quarter that demonstrates the kind of utilization pivot the global rental-car operator cohort has been waiting for. Q2 2026 total revenues of $3.0 billion, net income of $63 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $286 million reflect the operating profile the company is producing, with the Total Company Vehicle Utilization reaching 72.6 percent, up 1.9 points year over year, and the Americas utilization reaching 73.2 percent, a second quarter record high for both Total Company and Americas. The combination of the utilization pivot, the fleet-cost discipline, the Waymo autonomous vehicle partnership, and the $1.0 billion of liquidity and $1.9 billion of fleet funding capacity is the cleanest single-sentence read on what the global rental-car operator business model is producing, and the combination is the source of the operating-leverage spread the equity offers the buy-side.
The numbers tell the story with the kind of operational detail the global rental-car operator equity has been waiting for. The Q2 2026 total company vehicle utilization of 72.6 percent was 1.9 points above the prior-year quarter, and the Americas utilization of 73.2 percent was 2.5 points above the prior-year quarter, with the Americas utilization reaching a second quarter record high. The total company per-unit fleet costs were $290 per month, excluding exchange rate effects, a decrease of 4 percent compared to the prior-year quarter. The fleet-cost discipline is the source of the operating-leverage spread the company is producing, and the fleet-cost discipline is the structural feature the equity offers the buy-side.
The Q2 2026 Adjusted EBITDA of $286 million was in line with the initial expectations, and the Q2 2026 net income of $63 million reflects the operating-leverage spread the company is producing. The Avis autonomous vehicle partnership with Waymo went live in Dallas, TX on June 1, 2026, completing thousands of trips in its first month of operation, and the Waymo partnership is the source of the autonomous vehicle revenue the company is positioning for.
The capital structure actions during Q2 2026 include the issuance of $300 million of add-on unsecured Senior Notes due 2031 in May 2026, the repayment of a portion of the unsecured Senior Notes due 2027 in June 2026, the refinancing of the existing $2 billion senior revolving credit facility with a new $2 billion senior revolving credit facility with a maturity in June 2031, and the establishment of a new $200 million senior revolving credit facility with a maturity in June 2028. The capital structure actions are the cleanest single read on the liquidity management the company is producing.
The question the next four quarters resolve is whether the company can sustain the utilization pivot and the fleet-cost discipline, and whether the Waymo autonomous vehicle partnership produces the autonomous vehicle revenue the company is positioning for. A Q3 2026 print that continues the utilization above the 72 percent level and the fleet-cost discipline at the 4 percent decline pace would confirm the operating profile is sustainable. A Q3 2026 print that shows utilization declining or fleet costs increasing would force the market to reprice the equity for a more modest terminal value.