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

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.

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Blank Canvas: Ford Ditches Vehicle Subscription Business

Just a short time ago, vehicle subscription services were hailed as the second coming, permitting drivers the freedom to select from a range of vehicles for a single monthly payment. Proponents touted it as a way for manufacturers to display their wares and for buyers to sample a wide array of cars. Opponents said OEMs could potentially lose money by having all these used cars on hand.

It would seem the latter is beginning to prevail with a cadre of companies getting out of the subscription game faster than an aging athlete getting traded to another team. Fair, the $1.2 billion startup company backed by SoftBank, just picked up Canvas from the Ford Motor Company.

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QOTD: Forget Newsletters - Which Automaker Would You Subscribe To?

Newsletters, podcasts, streaming music services — our quest for consumption and thirst for variety knows no bounds. But lately, automakers have taken to experimenting with the same business model. A range of cars, plus insurance coverage, for a fixed monthly price.

Sounds intriguing, if the price is right.

Cadillac’s doing it. Bimmer, too. And so is Porsche. Volvo has such a service, but it only nets you a single compact crossover. Mercedes-Benz recently made its own foray into the subscription arena, offering a bevy of German luxury vehicles for just over a grand per month.

What would it take to lure you aboard the subscription bandwagon?

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  • Probert They already have hybrids, but these won't ever be them as they are built on the modular E-GMP skateboard.
  • Justin You guys still looking for that sportbak? I just saw one on the Facebook marketplace in Arizona
  • 28-Cars-Later I cannot remember what happens now, but there are whiteblocks in this period which develop a "tick" like sound which indicates they are toast (maybe head gasket?). Ten or so years ago I looked at an '03 or '04 S60 (I forget why) and I brought my Volvo indy along to tell me if it was worth my time - it ticked and that's when I learned this. This XC90 is probably worth about $300 as it sits, not kidding, and it will cost you conservatively $2500 for an engine swap (all the ones I see on car-part.com have north of 130K miles starting at $1,100 and that's not including freight to a shop, shop labor, other internals to do such as timing belt while engine out etc).
  • 28-Cars-Later Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”The losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” [if they ever are recouped] Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fords-120000-loss-vehicle-shows-california-ev-goals-are-impossible Given these facts, how did Tesla ever produce anything in volume let alone profit?
  • AZFelix Let's forego all of this dilly-dallying with autonomous cars and cut right to the chase and the only real solution.