Having driven a few electric vehicles in my time, I’m convinced that one of the biggest reasons people are unsure about them is because they haven’t tried one. That’s a problem Hyundai plans to solve with a try-and-buy subscription service.
Unlike other subscription services, like those by BMW and Audi, Hyundai’s plan isn’t to use the service to create a new business model, but rather to give people a low-risk way to get into its latest EV.
The precise details of the plan are still being worked out, reports Automotive News, but the automaker is thinking of offering potential Ioniq 5 buyers a one- to three-month-long subscription that will cover the price of the car, insurance, and maintenance.
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“When you try before you buy and you find it can work for you in your everyday life, you tend to now want to move toward potentially owning,” Olabisi Boyle, vice president of product planning and mobility strategy at Hyundai Motor North America, told AN. “We do expect that they’ll transition from try to buy.”
Getting people comfortable with EVs will be important for the Hyundai Group, which is in the middle of an EV transformation. Late last week, a report suggested that the automaker would be ending the development of internal combustion engines to focus on electric vehicles instead.
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The report comes as the group’s three brands, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, are all in the midst of announcing new electric vehicles. The Kia EV6, the sister car to the Ioniq 5, has already proven very popular in Europe, with prospective buyers lining up to get one.
Hyundai, meanwhile, announced a $7.4 billion investment in its U.S. production to get new EVs coming out of its American factories. If Hyundai, with the help of this promotion, can capitalize on the EV buzz, it may prove very profitable for the brand.