Mini last week announced a new, all-inclusive purchase plan for its pure-electric hatch.
Along with the vehicle the subscription-style deal includes a home wall box capable of recharging the car in four hours, and the peripherals to use public DC fast-charging infrastructure
It also includes a five-year service package and five years of roadside assist, and the ability to swap from the Mini Electric into a petrol-powered Countryman for a weekend away.
Mini says it’s aimed at people who want to “dip their toes” into the world of electric vehicle ownership. With that in mind, the car can be handed back to Mini after two or four years without any fees.
Buyers need to pay the following:
- $3000 deposit upfront
- $275 per week for the first two years
- $98 per week for the two years after
The means a subscriber who owns the Electric for two years will pay $31,600 to drive the Mini Electric, before handing the car back with no instalments remaining.
After four years a buyer will have spent $41,792 on the car. Although it can be handed back after the four years, Mini also allows owners to pay out the remaining value of the car – locked in at $28,052.
Mini says buyers can finance the final payment, or pay it outright. For owners who pay it outright, the Mini Electric will have cost $69,827.36. The list price of the car is $59,990 drive-away.
“We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback and constant enquiries about the Mini Electric Hatch, which is a welcome reminder of how well it fits the brief as a city-friendly, environmentally-focused EV that also delivers Mini’s signature go-kart thrills,” said Brett Waudby, general manager of Mini Australia and New Zealand.
“The Mini Dynamic Mobility Package, developed in conjunction with Mini Financial Services, is the ideal accompaniment and takes all the hassle out of ownership to encourage more Mini urbanites to come forth and embrace the EV lifestyle.”
Car subscriptions that go a step further than the Mini Electric purchase plan are growing in popularity, although the manufacturer-backed subscriptions being rolled out in Europe and the USA haven’t yet made it to Australia.
In the USA, Care by Volvo allows people to pay US$700 per month for an XC40 including insurance, registration, and maintenance. There’s no down payment on the car, and vehicles can be upgraded annually as part of the subscription.
Volvo Australia is working on bringing the subscription service to Australia, too.
“The Care by Volvo subscription service has been rolled out in a number of markets around the world really very successfully. I think, to be frank, it’s probably been more successful than even we anticipated – and we want to roll it out here,” Volvo Australia managing director Nick Connor earlier this year told CarExpert.
“I think the critical thing about Care by Volvo is you’ve got to do it properly. It would be quite easy to roll something out that was a fairly basic subscription service, but we’re very keen to get it right and actually have as much flexibility for the customers as possible.
“That takes a fair bit of work and infrastructure, and we’ve been working on it now for several months. It’s been in the planning for quite a long time.
“The current COVID-19 arrangements means that we’ve had to put it on hold, just because we can’t get the people in that we need to help us with that. But it’s certainly something that we will be introducing in the latter part of this year – I suspect now it’s going to fall into 2021, but it’s definitely a development we need.”
