Just like how hybrids that are part of Perodua’s near future plans come as no surprise, car subscription too. That’s because 300 units Ativa Hybrid subscription plan – launched in September 2022 – is not just ‘electric vehicle research’ but also ‘long-term mobility services market research’.
Perodua then said it wanted to learn about consumer acceptance of the five-year subscription service the automaker has offered to corporate customers under its contract. EZ MOBi Fleet Branch, Launching January 2021.
“While we believe vehicle ownership will still be our bread and butter; it is likely that the vehicle subscription business model could be adopted by more users in the near future. This is what we mean by ‘subscription’ – a service where all the other obligations of vehicle ownership – such as following service schedules, paying vehicle insurance and paying taxes road – will be managed entirely by us; all customers have to do is pay the subscription fee to enjoy the package,” Perodua President and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad said at the time.
We now have a timeline. At the 2023 outlook event yesterday, the presentation of the head of P2 mentioned the “deployment of car rental and registration services” as a new value chain business. main activities for 2023.
“We will make an announcement before we fully roll out our subscription program. But that will come after we finish getting feedback from 300 Ativa Hybrid customers. We did the first (round) of feedback from customers and we got pretty good feedback from them. No complaints at all. In fact, they say the RM500 monthly fee is on the lower end,” said Zainal, referring to the Ativa Hybrid’s subscription fee.
“We will be doing another collection (information from customers), probably in the middle of this year. And based on that information, we will inform how we do our registration. What is the amount, what kind of program we will recommend. But certainly, as part of our new business, we want to launch this year,” he added.
“It’s on the customer side and the market side. As for us, we are currently developing the system and trying to make sure that when we launch, when we announce this subscription program, there will be no hiccups. We will make an announcement soon, after receiving feedback from our existing Ativa Hybrid customers,” the P2 boss reiterated.
As a summary, Ativa Hybrid Subscriber had to pay an upfront payment of RM2,150 (including a refundable three-month safety deposit, first month fee and stamp duty), followed by a monthly subscription fee of RM500 for 5 years. Maintenance (including wear and tear items), insurance, and road taxes are covered by Perodua, as the renamed CBU units are registered under the company name and not under the customer’s name.
It’s a 5-year commitment and the mileage limit for this period is 100,000 km, an average of 20,000 km a year or 1,666 km a month. At the end of the term, the total amount paid to Perodua will be RM30,150. Participants will have to return the SUV to Perodua after 5 years.
Is this a good deal for you or do you want to buy a car the traditional way and have something on hand at the end of the loan term? By the way, Renault distributor TC Euro Cars is a pioneer in car subscriptions in Malaysia – here it is how are they doing.
