0THE Changing Face of Car POSSESSION

摘要

To buy or not to buy? To lease,subscribe or share? And most of all,what of the monthly payment,not the actual purchase price? These are the questions perplexing automakers and their dealers,not to mention your typical automotive consumer.Sorry,Billy Shakespeare.I could not resist the play on words and ideas.Because as I surveyed an increasingly complex vehicle purchase/lease/borrow/rent/share marketplace,I felt caught in a vortex of initiatives and experiments reminiscent of the complexity and nuance found in The Tempest.Anger and confusion rose inside me.I became Caliban for an instant.(Alas,I was an English major.)The truth is,where once new car buyers had but two choices-buy outright or borrow/finance-today,automakers and dealers and others are sweeping in with an increasing array of approaches to...Well,I'd like to say approaches to owning a vehicle,but that's inaccurate and even misleading.Inaccurate,because according to data from the Power Information Network,nearly one-third of Canadians rent cars long-term-that is to say they lease a new vehicle(30 per cent).Leasing has,at times,been popular with 40 per cent or more of car shoppers,depending on the strength of the economy and the rate of interest on borrowed money.Leasing's current 30 per cent penetration,most in the industry agree,is about right for a healthy market.