Nissan Motor Co. has become the latest automaker to test the waters with a subscription service. The company has announced the launch of a new two-tier subscription service for its vehicles that allows drivers to switch to a different car whenever they like. The program, called “Nissan Switch,” will initially launch in the Houston area as a test run before being rolled out to other areas.
Those who choose the $699 per month “Select” plan can choose from four cars: the Altima, the Rogue, the Pathfinder, and the Frontier. Choosing the $899 per month “Premium” plan provides access to those four models plus six additional vehicles: the Leaf Plus, the Maxima, the Murano, the Armada, the Titan and the 370Z.
The GT-R sports car is available to either Select or Premium customers, but includes an additional $100-a-day fee and can only be taken out for a maximum of seven days. With an additional $495 activation fee, the subscription fee covers delivery, cleaning, insurance, roadside assistance, and standard maintenance.
While car subscriptions are much more expensive than traditional leases, according to car marketplace Edmunds, they can be attractive to millennial consumers who are less inclined than previous generations to own or lease their own vehicle. Other automakers offering such services include Lexus, Audi, Jaguar, Volvo, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz.
The Nissan Switch service is competitively priced when compared to some of the other car subscription services available. For example, customers of Porsche’s Passport service pay $2,100 per month or more for their subscription. When Cadillac offered its Book service, customers were paying $1,500 per month.
