LONDON: A startup backed by Jaguar Land Rover is introducing a vehicle-subscription program to attract affluent millennials who don’t want to buy or lease a car.
Pivotal, supported by JLR’s InMotion venture-capital unit, will offer a six-month subscription for drivers in UK, starting at £750 (RM4,005) a month for a Land Rover Discovery Sport or Range Rover Evoque, according to the company’s website. The top-of-the-line Range Rover will cost £1,600 (RM8,543) a month.
The payment will cover tax, maintenance and insurance, and customers can cancel their subscriptions after three months, Pivotal said.
Other companies have announced similar programs: Volvo Car AB is introducing a subscription service, Care by Volvo, in September. London-based startup Drover Ltd. has partnered with BMW AG to offer an alternative to car ownership.
And in the United States, Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit offers subscriptions for its cars, starting at US$1,495 (RM6,409) a month.
Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz brand introduced a US subscription service in 2018, but pulled the plug on the two-year-old pilot, Automotive News reported last month.
With new-car sales plunging amid the coronavirus pandemic and people reluctant to return to public transportation, carmakers are looking for ways to spur demand.
Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors Ltd., said in a statement that it expects subscription services to account for almost 10% of all car sales in the United States and Europe by 2025.
