Ask people in the auto industry what they think of car subscriptions, and you’re likely to get a range of answers as diverse as … well … the subscription platforms themselves.
Industry consultant Maryann Keller, for example, did not pull any punches when sharing her thoughts during a keynote address at the Automotive Intelligence Summit.
“To me, they make no sense,” Keller said at the event, which was held this summer in Raleigh, N.C.
Keller, who is the principal at Auto Intel Council-member Maryann Keller & Advisors, was referring to automakers’ subscription programs during this part of her presentation, though she would later share some reservations about dealer-based used-car programs, too.
She isn’t buying the notion that drivers would actually want to switch out of vehicles at a rate as quickly as a month or two.
“It would take me a month to figure out how to put the phone in the next car,” Keller said. “And by the time I haul all the junk that I carry in my car into the next car, you’d have probably (enough) time to get another turn on my subscription. But that’s me.
“I don’t think the auto companies have answered some fundamental questions,” she said.
