Just like how hybrids being a part of Perodua’s near future plans isn’t a surprise, so is car subscription. That’s because the 300-unit Ativa Hybrid subscription plan – launched in September 2022 – isn’t just an ‘electric vehicle study’ but also a ‘long-term mobility as a service market study’.
Then, Perodua said it wanted to understand consumer acceptance of a five-year subscription service, which the carmaker is already offering to corporate clients under its EZ MOBi fleet arm, launched in January 2021.
“While we believe that vehicle ownership will still be our bread and butter; there is a possibility that a vehicle subscription business model may be acceptable for more users in the near future. This is what we mean by ‘subscription’ – a service where all other obligations of owning a vehicle – such as following a service schedule, paying vehicle insurance and paying road tax – will be managed entirely by us; all the customer has to do is pay a subscription fee to enjoy the package,” Perodua president and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad said then.
We now have a timeline. At yesterday’s 2023 outlook event, the P2 chief’s presentation mentioned “total rollout for car subscription and leasing” as a new value chain business that’s a key activity for 2023.
“We will make announcement prior to the full implementation of our subscription scheme. But that will come after we have completed getting feedback from the 300 customers of the Ativa Hybrid. We have done the first (round of) feedback from customers and we received quite good response from them. No complaints at all. In fact, they say that the RM500 monthly fee is on the lower side,” Zainal said, referring to the Ativa Hybrid’s subscription fee.
“We will do another round of gathering (information from customers), most probably by the middle of this year. And based on that info, we will announce how shall we do our subscription. What is the amount, what kind of scheme that we will introduce. But definitely, as part of our new business, we would like to launch within this year,” he added.
“That’s on the customer and market side. On our side, we are now developing the system and try to make sure that when we launch, when we announce this subscription scheme, there will be no hiccups. We will announce very soon, after we receive the feedback from our current Ativa Hybrid customers,” the P2 boss reiterated.
As a recap, Ativa Hybrid subscribers had to pay an upfront sum of RM2,150 (includes refundable three months safety deposit, the first month fee and stamp duty) followed by a monthly subscription fee of RM500 for five years. Maintenance (including wear and tear items), insurance and road tax is covered by Perodua, as the rebadged CBU units are registered under the company, not in the name of the customers.
It is a five-year commitment and the mileage cap over the period is 100,000 km, which averages to 20,000 km a year or 1,666 km a month. At the end of the tenure, the total amount paid to Perodua would be RM30,150. Participants will have to return the SUV to Perodua after five years.
Is this a good deal for you, or you’d rather buy a car the traditional way and have something in hand at the end of the loan tenure? By the way, Renault distributor TC Euro Cars is a pioneer in car subscription in Malaysia – here’s how they are doing it.
