California startup Autonomy announced Wednesday that it's adding gasoline-powered vehicles to its subscription service for the first time, abandoning its all-electric strategy after a near-fatal financial collapse. The company, which four years ago committed to purchasing 23,000 electric vehicles from 17 manufacturers including Tesla, now operates just over 500 EVs and is betting that traditional internal combustion engines will attract the customers its electric-only model failed to reach. The shift marks a dramatic retreat from the dual bet on both vehicle subscriptions and electrification that defined the company's 2022 launch.
Autonomy's electric fleet barely surpassed 1,000 vehicles before losing approximately one-third of its value within a year, driven by an EV price war initiated by Elon Musk as Tesla fought to maintain competitiveness against an influx of new electric models. Founder Scott Painter, who previously created TrueCar, had to personally rescue the company from near-bankruptcy as major automakers simultaneously abandoned their own subscription programs. The new gasoline lineup will feature Ford models including the Mustang, Ranger, F-150, Bronco Sport, Escape, and Explorer, sourced through Los Angeles dealer Galpin Motors and initially available to California customers. The company also operates in Arizona, Florida, Texas, New York, North Carolina, and Washington, where it plans partnerships with additional dealers.
"If you're going to be successful in anything, you've got to give the customer what the customer wants," CEO Fred Weick told TechCrunch. According to Weick, who spent over two decades at Mercedes-Benz, the company is targeting university students, military families, foreign workers, and those seeking a "company car" experience with the gasoline vehicle push. The service charges a one-time fee—currently $1,000 for electric vehicles—plus a monthly rate that varies by make and model, with customers able to cancel after just one month.
Weick explained that rising vehicle prices, with new cars now exceeding $50,000 and used car costs also climbing, are making it increasingly difficult for people with poor credit scores or no credit access to obtain transportation. He described the core appeal as straightforward and rapid access to mobility without the complications of traditional car ownership, arguing that earlier business models attempted to force a new concept into an outdated framework. Autonomy isn't alone in stumbling over electric fleet economics—Hertz announced plans in 2021 to acquire up to 100,000 Teslas and additional EVs from other manufacturers, only to sell most of them in 2024 in favor of gasoline vehicles.
The company's future hinges on whether consumers who rejected all-electric subscriptions will embrace the same model with familiar powertrains, while maintaining enough EV interest—Weick noted California continues to show demand—to justify operating a split fleet. The subscription model itself remains unproven at scale, having failed to gain traction even before Autonomy's EV value crisis forced its pivot. For fleet operators and mobility startups, the lesson may be that betting simultaneously on two unproven propositions creates compounding risk rather than complementary opportunity. Subscription services built around asset depreciation face fundamental tension when those assets lose value faster than the business model can absorb.