Polestar, the electric and hybrid performance arm of Volvo was one of the first to champion the idea of an all-encompassing subscription service when it announced its first model, the Polestar 1, would be sold that way.
Since then, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have both jumped onboard with pilots of a similar service, but they are in very limited areas and so far mostly in the United States.
Instead of testing the waters with limited trials, Jaguar Land Rover appears to be jumping right in with a scheme called Carpe, which is run by the company's mobility arm, InMotion. Unlike the trials being run by the German luxury manufacturers in the US that are only offered in a handful of cities at the moment, JLR's Carpe service is being rolled out to the entire UK.
The service is designed for busy UK residents who do high annual mileage and who therefore spend a lot of hours each week driving. They can sign up to Carpe right now, and subscribe to driving a brand new model from Jaguar or Land Rover for 12 months without having to put down a deposit.
Carpe will let subscribers enjoy a new car every year and the vehicle specifications can be tailored to meet individual needs. And where this particular subscription model differs massively from a traditional lease agreement is that there are no restrictions on mileage.
Almost everything concerned with running a vehicle is included, which means the vehicle, servicing, maintenance, insurance, roadside assistance and delivery are all taken care of with a single monthly payment.
Unlike the BMW and Mercedes schemes, subscribers will buy a package for a particular model instead of being able to swap and change between different models in a price band. The good news with that is it means the JLR Carpe scheme can look quite affordable compared to some rival schemes.
For example, prices start in the UK from £910 (RM4,823) per month for a standard E-Pace, although a Range Rover Sport HSE will set subscriber back a whopping £2,200 (about RM11,660) per month. The bad news for private subscribers is that those prices don't include the UK's VAT sales tax that adds an extra 20 percent to the price.
