Mercedes Benz And BMW To Join The Vehicle Subscription League

The celebrated German auto giants reveal plans to avail vehicle subscription services to their cherished customers in the near future.

Vehicle subscription is not something totally unheard of in the present-day motoring arena. To all those who are still unaware of this custom, if any, allow us to explain. The term generally refers to a system that lets users drive the car of their choice for a monthly fee that includes registration, taxes, insurance and maintenance, in addition to pickup and delivery charges. The upside is that customers here can switch between models without having to invest in the traditional ways of car ownership.

Makers like Cadillac, Porsche, Volvo and Lincoln have been testing this state-of-the-art method experience for quite some time now. The great news, now, is that the vastly eulogized German car makers, BMW and Mercedes Benz, have also announced their plans to start subscription services over their range in the imminent future. The authorities have made their plans of launching vehicle subscription pilots in the U.S this year official. So we can all get a little more excited at this point.

Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche seems hopeful, when speaking of subscription plans and other non-traditional ownership experiments. According to AutoWeek, he said:

"“I do believe these platforms have their benefits. [It] remains to be seen if any one of them will have a really profitable business in the long run.”"

Later, Mercedes Benz’s global sales chief Britta Seeger, in a conversation with the Automotive News at the Detroit auto show, expressed her hopes for the the brand to ‘learn’ and to ‘try this out in different markets’.  But what would happen if a customer doesn’t get to switch to a model of his choice? Seeger does foresee this possible “big threat” to the subscription system, something that is very well reflected in her asking thus:  “On the weekend, if it’s sunshine outside and if everybody wants to have a cabriolet, and if I apply five times to have a cabriolet and I don’t get it, what does this cause?”

Seeger hopes to better understand the concept and also added that the brand does have subscription pilots in other countries, like the Smart-branded program in Italy and the Mercedes-branded program in Germany.

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Talking about their ‘most likely’ test of a subscription model in the U.S. market this year, BMW of North America CEO Bernhard Kuhnt told the press:

"“We are in the phase of looking at it and evaluating together with BMW Financial Services. And if we are going to do it, we are going to pilot it first to learn more about it. At the end of the day, the consumer is going to decide if that’s something they want to do.”"

The details of the pilot are yet to be determined, according to Kuhnt. The car maker, as per Kuhnt is in talks with organizations with subscription experience so as to get a lucid picture of the best offer for consumers. Kuhnt’s words explain as to why the brand is still lauded for its customer hospitality, as it keep them in mind and in the forefront. It will ultimately be proven beneficial by the consumer – whether it is something they want and something that works for them.

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Here is a short video of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupe – something that might soon be open for subscription!