Yesterday Ford announced it will test a new vehicle leasing program in Austin for consumers who only need occasional access to a car.Ford Credit Link will allow groups of three to six family members, neighbors or friends to go in on a lease together and manage the car’s sharing and maintenance schedules through a companion mobile app.
David McClelland, Ford Credit executive vice president, Marketing and Sales, said the customers could include households with multiple licensed drivers, neighbors with intermittent needs for a special vehicle such as a pickup truck, or friends, coworkers and college students.
“People already are sharing everything – from books to homes,” he said in a statement. “We’re seeing the potential for a shift from a single consumer paying for a single vehicle to several people sharing costs and benefits.
The program will launch at three Austin Ford dealerships in February: Covert Ford, Leif Johnson Ford and Maxwell Ford.
“Austin is a progressive city with a rich demographic mix,” McClelland said. “It has effective public transportation, and consumers who use various mobility options but may not need a full vehicle lease to meet their transportation needs.This combination makes Austin a good place to test Ford Credit Link.”
The move comes as automakers face a growing threat from ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft, as well as carsharing and rental networks like Zipcar, iGo and Silvercar. City dwellers are increasingly choosing these services over the costs and burdens of car ownership to meet their intermittent need for a set of wheels.
Ford is responding to this shift by treating the new leasing program like a family mobile carrier contracts, which some young consumers have also been sharing with friends to save on data plans as they move out of the nest and off the plans they first shared with parents.
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