One Is the Most Affordable Number: Porsche Subscription Service Strips It Down

by Steph Willems

August 26th, 2020 10:41 PM

Sick and tired of paying through the nose to swap out Porsches all month, wowing your friends and coworkers with your revolving door of high-end rides? Your prayers have been answered.

Porsche Drive, the German automaker’s limited-market, all-in subscription service, has added something new: one- or three-month access to a single Porsche vehicle, rather than a multi-vehicle plan costing significantly more.

If you’re in town for only a short contract or just can’t stand the commitment that comes with leasing, this could be for you.

Of course, you’ll have to live within 50 miles of San Diego, Atlanta, Los Angeles, or Phoenix to take part. Subscription services are still in their infancy, and limited geographic availability are the name of the game for these pilots. Porsche Drive launched in 2017.

The Single-Vehicle Subscription tier isn’t the lowest on the Porsche Drive totem, however. Those who wish to drive 200 miles or less per day can opt for the short-term rental option, which offers a single car for one to three days, or four or more. Perfect for an extended layover or a shallow plot to make the person you’re meeting at the bar think you’re someone extra special.

The Multi-Vehicle Subscription tier offers two levels of ride-swapping pleasure, starting at $2,100 a month (a fee that includes insurance but excludes gas) and topping out at $3,100 for access to the full gamut of nameplates. Going the single-vehicle route gets you into a Macan, Boxster, Cayman, Cayenne, Panamera, or 911 Carrera, with $1,500 as the monthly fee floor and $2,600 as the ceiling. The same $595 activation fee as the multi-vehicle tiers applies to the one-month rental. Three-month subscription customers see their fee waived.

Worth it? That’s for you to decide. If you’ve got $2,600 a month to put towards a Carrera, why not add another $500 and get the Carrera and everything else? Still, enough customers have availed themselves of the app-based service to keep the project running, it seems. Other automakers haven’t been as lucky.

Of course, in addition to the reduced monthly fee for single-vehicle access, subscribers will find their monthly mileage allowance has taken a haircut — from the 2,000 miles afforded to multi-vehicle subscribers, to 1,500 miles. Choose your journeys carefully… and maybe your financial decisions.

[Image: Porsche]

#Porsche #PorscheDrive #SubscriptionService

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 17 comments

Ajla on Aug 27, 2020

I've always wondered how hard it is to actually sign up for these service. I'm guessing they won't just give me a $100K car for showing up in an '08 Charger SE with my license and 26 crumpled $100 bills in my pocket. What kind of driving record and credit rating would you need? Being able to do something like this (not for $2600) with a Tesla or other plug-in might be interesting though. It'd be nice to know how well a vehicle like that actually fits into my lifestyle.

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- Jmo on Aug 27, 2020
  
  Are they self insuring? If not and gap insurance is included they would be happy if you totaled it as it would represent another sale.
  
  Like
- Ajla on Aug 27, 2020
  
  @jmo The insurance company might care though if the terror of Highway 101 or a 2-time DUI gets a Panamera S. That's why I'm guessing at least some restrictions apply. I just don't know how much.
  
  Like
ToolGuy on Aug 27, 2020

This sounds like a (fairly) reasonable way to scratch an itch - perhaps for a month, maybe for three months. [Any longer and jack4x is right - probably smarter ways to acquire a Porsche long-term.] Compare the pricing for 10 laps in an exotic in Las Vegas - this is arguably a better deal than that (depending on what you like). (The two points above were directed at 'mass-affluent' individuals - if you're high net worth or above and enjoy switching vehicles often with minimal hassle, hey go for it.)

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Max So GM will be making TESLAS in the future. YEA They really shouldn’t be taking cues from Elon musk. Tesla is just about to be over.
Malcolm It's not that commenters attack Tesla, musk has brought it on the company. The delivery of the first semi was half loaded in 70 degree weather hauling potato chips for frito lay. No company underutilizes their loads like this. Musk shouted at the world "look at us". Freightliners e-cascads has been delivering loads for 6-8 months before Tesla delivered one semi. What commenters are asking "What's the actual usable range when in say Leadville when its blowing snow and -20F outside with a full trailer?
Funky D I despise Google for a whole host of reasons. So why on earth would I willing spend a large amount of $ on a car that will force Google spyware on me.The only connectivity to the world I will put up with is through my phone, which at least gives me the option of turning it off or disconnecting it from the car should I choose to.No CarPlay, no sale.
William I think it's important to understand the factors that made GM as big as it once was and would like to be today. Let's roll back to 1965, or even before that. GM was the biggest of the Big Three. It's main competition was Ford and Chrysler, as well as it's own 5 brands competing with themselves. The import competition was all but non existent. Volkswagen was the most popular imported cars at the time. So GM had its successful 5 brands, and very little competition compared to today's market. GM was big, huge in fact. It was diversified into many other lines of business, from trains to information data processing (EDS). Again GM was huge. But being huge didn't make it better. There are many examples of GM not building the best cars they could, it's no surprise that they were building cars to maximize their profits, not to be the best built cars on the road, the closest brand to achieve that status was Cadillac. Anyone who owned a Cadillac knew it could have been a much higher level of quality than it was. It had a higher level of engineering and design features compared to it's competition. But as my Godfather used to say "how good is good?" Being as good as your competitors, isn't being as good as you could be. So, today GM does not hold 50% of the automotive market as it once did, and because of a multitude of reasons it never will again. No matter how much it improves it's quality, market value and dealer network, based on competition alone it can't have a 50% market share again. It has only 3 of its original 5 brands, and there are too many strong competitors taking pieces of the market share. So that says it's playing in a different game, therfore there's a whole new normal to use as a baseline than before. GM has to continue downsizing to fit into today's market. It can still be big, but in a different game and scale. The new normal will never be the same scale it once was as compared to the now "worlds" automotive industry. Just like how the US railroad industry had to reinvent its self to meet the changing transportation industry, and IBM has had to reinvent its self to play in the ever changing Information Technology industry it finds it's self in. IBM was once the industry leader, now it has to scale it's self down to remain in the industry it created. GM is in the same place that the railroads, IBM and other big companies like AT&T and Standard Oil have found themselves in. It seems like being the industry leader is always followed by having to reinvent it's self to just remain viable. It's part of the business cycle. GM, it's time you accept your fate, not dead, but not huge either.
Tassos The Euro spec Taurus is the US spec Ford FUSION.Very few buyers care to see it here. FOrd has stopped making the Fusion long agoWake us when you have some interesting news to report.