HCA, Flexdrive Partner for New Mobility Venture

Hyundai Capital America has partnered with mobility subscription services platform Flexdrive — after nearly a year of discussions — to support the development of alternatives to the traditional vehicle-ownership model, Andrew Leone, vice president of commercial credit and risk at Hyundai Capital America, told Auto Finance News.

“If you think about this topic of mobility, there’s customers who want to own cars, there’s customers who want to lease cars or finance cars,” Leone said. “But there’s a segment of the population [for whom] ownership is not the solution. They just need a car — it’s more about usage,” he said, citing an example of a visiting foreign professor or people who want to work for a rideshare company but don’t want to put wear-and-tear on their own vehicles.

HCA and Flexdrive are co-developing various financial options that support the automotive industry’s evolution toward vehicle subscription, although Leone declined to disclose specific financing details. Additionally, the two companies will provide rideshare drivers with access to vehicles through Flexdrive’s partnership with Lyft’s Express Drive program.  Lyft’s Express Drive program is based on a variable pricing model where the weekly payment depends on the number of rides a consumer gives per week.

Flexdrive, which operates under 50/50 ownership by Cox Automotive and Automotive Rentals Inc.,  was looking to expand its footprint to 23 cities last year, AFN previously reported.