Subscribe to a Porsche, yacht or jet, for you live in borrow times

Luxury cars and boats just one of the few things Australians could pay a monthly fee for in coming years.

Graham Raspass from SailTime Australia, a player in the emerhing subscription economy. Picture: James Croucher

A Porsche at your door? A yacht whenever you want? These are just some of the possibilities opening up for customers as Australia begins to embrace the “subscription economy”.

Some analysts expect Australia’s subscription market to grow as much as $2.62 billion in the next five years and this growing space already far exceeds newspapers and Netflix.

Australian subscribers can now get everything from socks to high-end whiskies delivered regularly to their door, and some types of luxury travel are available for a monthly fee.

“Subscriptions offer freedom,” says Zuora vice-president Iman Ghodosi, whose firm makes software to manage subscription businesses. “You can turn them on or off, up or down.”

Mr Ghodosi said the company now saw interest in markets from transport to healthcare to retail.

“A decade ago, we all had thousands of CDs, then an iPod; now everyone has a Spotify ­account,” he said. “The next generation especially doesn’t want to own things like cars, so subscriptions work best for them.”

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Porsche Passport is a service in Atlanta, Georgia, which allows customers to jump from Porsche to Porsche, depending on their particular mood, for a flat rate of $US2000 a month. Volvo offers subscription services to its high-end cars from $US600 a month. There are no plans quite yet to bring these services to Australia.

“Once the trial in America is concluded, we will look at ­expanding into other markets,” a Porsche spokesman said.

Audi offers an On Demand app that has been trialled in the US and Europe, and it has plans to launch in Australia by 2020. In Germany, an A3 for a day costs €105 ($165).

Australian start-up Airly offers flights on private jets across the country with membership fees as low as $19 per month getting customers discounted seats and concierge services.

While you can’t yet subscribe to a Porsche just yet, you can pay monthly to sail the high seas.

“When I first saw this model overseas I immediately thought this would be just perfect,” SailTime Australia chief Graham Raspass said.

From $710 a month, SailTime Australia offers customers access to its yachts in Sydney. They only need to book in advance and to clean it down. The subscription model offers “low-cost entry, no long-term commitment and a chance to sail on new luxury boats”, Mr Raspass said.

Michael Edwards, 56, from Mosman, took out a subscription to SailTime’s yachts after being put off by the high costs of more traditional options. “I initially looked at a time share in a yacht but you end up owning one tenth of it and the cost just doesn’t match the investment,” he said. “With the monthly fee, it’s much more streamlined and I get to sail with no hassles. It’s very flexible.”

The Whisky Club co-founder Bertie Cason said subscriptions were a way for smaller local businesses to reach new customers.

“People like them because they get to try brands they don’t see in Coles and Woolies,” Mr Cason said. “There’s a bit of ­adventure in a subscription.”

Socks are another booming market for subscriptions. Manrags founder Michael Elias said his customers wanted the ­element of surprise. “Some of our customers now have opening ceremonies when their packages ­arrive,” he said. “If the subscription is made easy for the customer, then it will work.”