In brief: Subscription services are certainly popular, but they aren't necessarily a recipe for success in every industry. This is something Mercedes has learned the hard way: the company's luxury vehicle subscription service, known as the "Mercedes-Benz Collection," is reportedly heading for the chopping block this summer.
The service, which was revealed in April of 2018, offered customers the ability to drive and swap between a variety of high-end Mercedes vehicles for about $1,100 per month (not including the $495 activation fee, due on delivery of your first vehicle).
Higher tier plans granted you access to better vehicles, but even the cheapest plan included insurance, maintenance, and emergency assistance as core features. Throughout its two-year lifespan, Collection was only ever available in two cities: Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Unfortunately for Mercedes, whether it was Collection's high price tag or limited nationwide availability, the service simply didn't take off like the company may have hoped. As a result, Mercedes is shutting it down indefinitely after two years of "just OK" performance, according to Automotive News.
Despite Collection's lack of success, Mercedes doesn't view it as a total failure. Instead, the company considers Collection a learning experience that might help it appeal to different types of customers in the future. For example, roughly "80 percent" of Collection subscribers were 10 years younger than the average Mercedes customer.
This suggests that Collection's flexible approach to mobility could work in the future, if it was marketed and tailored toward a younger audience. Only time will tell whether or not Mercedes will give the concept another shot, of course.