Auto Review: Just like underwear, wine and vitamins: You can subscribe to the Volvo XC40

You've grown accustomed to subscribing to all manner of products and services: underwear, cosmetics, razor blades, coffee, music, wine, movies, charcuterie, vitamins, meal kits.

All of it can be had for a set-it-and-forget-it monthly fee. But could this same model, which has flourished in the internet age, work for a car?

Volvo is betting on it. It is the first car maker to offer a nationwide subscription service, Care by Volvo, which launched late last year. The company said this month that by 2025, it expects half of all cars it offers to customers to come from the subscription service.

The program's opening offering is the 2019 XC40 sport utility vehicle, the smallest and least expensive of the Swedish automaker's three SUVs. It is the logical vehicle for the launch of the program. It's a car