The auto industry is experiencing Jurassic Park-like rumblings.
We’re talking not about alternative energy (unfortunately) or tariffs (thankfully), but the burgeoning of subscription-based car ownership.
Jaguar Land Rover is the latest company to roll out a monthly subscription plan for its vehicles in lieu of buying or leasing, joining the ranks of Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and others.
The service is called Carpe, and it works like, well, most other subscriptions. Sign up and you get access to a fleet of different Land Rover and Jaguar models for an all-inclusive monthly fee, which covers unlimited mileage, delivery, insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance, etc. Basically, everything but the gas.
Another thing it shares with those similar services from other luxury-car brands? A limited rollout. BOOK by Cadillac is currently only offered in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Porsche Passport is only in Atlanta. And, unfortunately for U.S. residents, Carpe is currently only in the U.K.
But don’t despair. As with anything an international automotive giant does, especially something as potentially industry disrupting, a test period is standard before a full-scale implementation.
At the moment, what sets Carpe apart is its offer of exclusively brand-new vehicles. The lineup includes nine models across both brands: the Jaguar E-PACE, F-PACE, XE and XF; the Range Rover Sport, Evoque and Velar; and the Land Rover Discovery and Discovery Sport.
The trade-off for fresh-off-the-lot vehicles? You’ll have to lock into a vehicle for a 12-month contract, whereas other services offer the ability to trade cars out as you like. Cadillac, for example, offers 18 exchanges within the first year.
As Automotive News Europe points out, this service is coming by way of InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s venture capital arm, which has invested in similar services like Lyft as well as blockchain tech like Dovu.
So with Carpe, as the name suggests, anything’s within reach.
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