News Coverage
Course Correction
Monday March 25, 2019
Article Highlights
- Clutch Technologies, owned by Cox Automotive, in January launched a suite of products including on-demand vehicle rental to attract additional customers who own or lease a vehicle but could use part-time subscription services.
- The new products use the same technology that powers Clutch's products for full-time subscriptions but it expands its algorithm to qualify vehicles in dealership's or automaker's fleet.
- On-demand rental allows a dealership's or automaker's customer to rent an additional vehicle as needed.
Shift Magazine, March 25, 2019 — The definition of vehicle subscriptions is in flux, as the industry starts playing with the model to see what will work best.
Subscription is not about “forcing our consumers in a single-use case,” Joe George, president of mobility solutions at Cox Automotive, said at the NADA Show in San Francisco in January. Many consumers purchase larger vehicles but really need the space only on occasion, he said. His wife, for example, drives a seven-passenger SUV all year just to accommodate family coming to town over the holidays.
“How can we allow customers the ability to match the vehicles with the use case they they have?” he said.
The answer? A broader product offering to appeal to a wider pool of consumers, George says.