Hyundai plans to offer “subscriptions” its Ioniq EV like a cellphone plan, which it calls Ioniq Unlimited.
When the new Hyundai Ioniq battery-electric vehicle rolls into California showrooms next year, the Korean carmaker wants to create what it calls a “worry-free ownership experience.”
And that means it won’t sell you the Ioniq but instead let you subscribe, much the way you might when it’s time to trade in your old smartphone in a program called “Ioniq Unlimited.”
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“We looked at the cellular phone industry,” explained David Zuchowski, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, “and nobody buys their phone. They sign up for a package.”
Ioniq is the dedicated platform Hyundai has developed, its response to the long-popular Toyota Prius. It will eventually be offered in three different forms, a plug-in hybrid version introduced earlier this year, with the pure battery-electric Ioniq making its debut on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show. A conventional hybrid version is set to follow next year.