Yahoo Autos Short-term leases from 5 to 12 months are increasingly popular
Bloomberg has a piece on how the buying process continues to evolve with the times. Remember when online shopping became the necessary rage? Now it's short-term leases. These aren't new, in fact — big cities have long offered six- to 12-month leases for clientele who don't want to miss out on midyear updates to taillights. Subscriptions also got hot just before the pandemic, carmakers believing there was a healthy bunch of consumers prioritizing choice over stability and a low payment. The difference in the new short-term lease trend is that they can be shorter than six months, they're more widely available, and some EV makers are using them to nudge the interested car shoppers off the fence.
Polestar began offering a "flexible lease" on the Polestar 2 in October that can be as short as five months, explaining to Bloomberg that it's effectively "an extended test drive." The 2 entered the market for the 2021 model year, the next car, the Polestar 3, hits the market next year. Giving current lessees a way to stick with the brand until the 3 arrives, and giving prospective buyers a way to test the brand and the EV lifestyle, expands market engagement and the balance sheet. Then, as Bloomberg wrote, "slightly used Polestar 2 sedans can be deployed to court less affluent customers." Of note, sister company Volvo still maintains its subscription program, Care, joining Porsche as the only OEM to stick with that business model in the U.S.