Lots of automakers are starting to offer what are, ostensibly, subscription services — completely redefining the relationship between driver and vehicle.
However, according to Alain Visser, CEO of Lynk & Co, these are subscription services in name only. Instead, he says that his company offers complete flexibility, offering genuine month-to-month car contracts and even offering increasing discounts the more you share your car with other members.
We caught up with Visser at the MOVE trade show in London to hear all about the transition from car-buying to car-using.
What’s more, Visser says that Lynk & Co is showing that consumers genuinely want car subscriptions and spend more money on doing things, rather than owning things.
“Our customer base is growing at an incredible speed, despite the fact that we aren’t doing any marketing,” he says.
Of course, much of this is based on increasing the utilisation of cars on the roads. By sharing one car between a number of different drivers, the car spends less time parked and takes up less space on the roads — allowing traffic to move more freely in urban areas and maximising the use of resources.
However, while Visser was keen to talk up the end of private car ownership at MOVE this year, not everyone was convinced. Bolt’s Johnny Munroe, for example, said that announcing the end of private car ownership was “unrealistic” and there would still be a place for individual cars even in a mixed mobility world.
