This might be a fundamental and permanent shift in the car rental model and pricing in N. America. The domestic automakers may have come to a point where they're not moving volume by selling on a guaranteed buyback basis to rental fleets (and buying back for resale after a few months). Car fleets will be purchased by rental companies and then disposed by them, rather than just returning them to the manufacturer (or to the dealers). The loss in value between purchase and resale, and operating/capital/financial costs will have to come from rental revenues. I see pricing following trends in such places as Europe.

FWIW, I was checking out LAX rentals for mid August. Weekend rates of $5o/day for a compact when it was $20-25 a few months back.