Subscriptions play an increasingly large role in our lives. If you use Amazon Prime or a Costco membership, they affect the way you shop. Services like Spotify, Netflix and Playstation Plus give you access to art and entertainment for a monthly fee. Smartphone providers and software companies have also begun using this model. It begs the question: why not automakers?
Autoblog’s Nate Swanner reports that a significant percentage of current drivers would be amenable to trying out a subscription plan for their next car, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted in April by Extreme Terrain, found that 46% of Americans would be open to an automotive subscription instead of buying or leasing a vehicle. If such a service included maintenance and insurance, an additional 10% expressed interest. The specter of tariffs was also discernible, with 46% saying that they would be more open to considering a subscription plan if tariffs raise prices.
Based on these results, there seems to be plenty of demand for an automotive subscription service. In practice, however, finding takers has been more difficult. In 2024, TechCrunch’s Sean O’Kane reported on the decision made by Scott Painter, founder of the EV subscription company Autonomy, to move into data, to better help automakers understand how a potential future subscription service might work.
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Including a big investment in EV batteriesAs O’Kane wrote, the existing history of subscription models for cars and trucks has been, shall we say, checkered. “[M]ost every major automaker has already tried subscription services,” O’Kane wrote. “And almost every single one of them walked away from the idea.”
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t still attempts to build something new in that space. Earlier this month, Stellantis announced a partnership with the German automotive subscription company Finn that encompassed 5,300 vehicles.
“The Finn subscription model makes it possible for new target groups to experience vehicles from a wide range of Stellantis brands — flexibly, easily and digitally,” said Florian Huettl, managing director for Stellantis Germany. “We see this as an important building block in making mobility more accessible and sustainable.”
Can that same model work in the U.S.? Time — and maybe tariffs — will tell.
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