You will soon be able to subscribe to an MG, instead of owning it

In our latest episode of #evoConversations, we got talking to Gaurav Gupta, Chief Commercial Officer at MG Motor India. As one of the initial members of the MG Motors India team, Gaurav has quite a big say in dictating the direction of the company. He revealed to us that the company is rolling out a subscription based service targeted at millennials. He said that the younger generation prefers experiences, and to them buying a car is not as much of a milestone as it was for Gen X. The subscription service will be targeted toward the former, allowing them to experience different cars over a period of time without having to deal with the hassles related to long-term ownership.

Before we get into MG’s partnership with Myles, let us understand what a subscription service actually is. Put simply, instead of either owning, financing or leasing one single car, a subscription service allows you to own a car for a short period, three months for example, and then have the ability to switch to another car. This can be either done through an annual fee, or different prepaid or postpaid pricing models. This means, “you don’t have a huge financial binding, or a huge exit clause as you would have with other financing options in the country”, says Gaurav. Moreover, you can pick and choose the car you want based on your requirement — visiting the family for a couple of months? You can subscribe to a large SUV for that period, and then switch to a hatchback once that term finishes. Many subscription based ownership services also offer the advantage of not having to pay for service and maintenance costs. In turn reducing the hassle of owning a car. “You don’t end up buying a car. You are somewhere between ownership and the flexibility which you want and you have a car which you want,” says Gaurav.

MG’s partnership with Myles, a company that specialises in self-drive rentals, will be called Myles Zero, “which means zero hassles, zero commitments and moving forward to start this subscription process.” The partnership is being rolled out. Gaurav believes that the target clientele for the service will be the millennials. He went on to say that “almost 60-65 percent of our consumers are in that bracket” and that even if the buyer itself is not a millennial, the buying decision of a parent is often influenced by millennials in the household.

Subscription based ownership options aren’t exactly a new invention, they are very popular internationally and even in India we have companies like Mahindra and Hyundai that offer it, as well as other self-driving rental companies like Zoomcar that provide a subscription based scheme. So, Myles Zero will be entering a new, but fairly competitive space in the market. Those of use who prefer to buy a car the traditional way can still go to a showroom and buy a car, for the time being at least.