You’ve never owned an EV before, but you keep seeing everyone talk about them. You are in need of a new car, but you’re unsure about how an EV will affect your life with things like charging and range. You go to Hyundai to see the Ioniq 5 and they tell you you can try it out for three months before committing to buy. That’s the plan Hyundai thinks will get new buyers into its EVs, as it told Automotive News.
Make no mistake, this plan isn’t just about getting people that are on the fence about buying an EV into an EV. This is also a show of how confident Hyundai is in its product, confident enough that it’s willing to let people try out the Ioniq 5 for a few months.
Here’s how it will work: Hyundai will offer a subscription for one to three months. No word on pricing yet, but the payment will cover the Ioniq, maintenance, and insurance just like most other subscription services. Sounds simple enough, but it’s also a gamble. What if people do this and end up not purchasing? Hyundai doesn’t think that will happen. That confidence I mentioned? Company executives think the car and subscription will win people over enough to purchase. Hyundai’s VP of product planning and mobility strategy Olabisi Boyle said to Automotive News:
“When you try before you buy and you find it can work for you in your everyday life, you tend to now want to move toward potentially owning. We do expect that they’ll transition from try to buy.”
Hyundai says that its research has shown that people who are more inclined to be interested in and try EVs also used subscriptions in many parts of their lives. Hyundai calls these people “mobility pioneers.” Whatever. What’s also intriguing is that Hyundai is confident enough in its EV to do this, but probably has never considered this for any of its other vehicles.