Spotify may have only officially launched Car Thing at the start of this year, but it's already applying the brakes and stopping production.
In a statement to TechCrunch, a spokesperson said, “The goal of Spotify’s Car Thing exploration was to better understand in-car listening and bring audio to a wider range of users and vehicles.
Spotify has said it will continue to support Car Thing, while those considering purchasing one should do so quickly as it's now discounted by 45% to $50.
In a quarterly earnings review this week, the streaming giant revealed that its monthly active users grew by 19% to 433 million, 5 million above its predictions, while paid users grew by 14% to 188 million. However, the company missed out on its gross margins, saying they were “negatively impacted by our decision to stop manufacturing Car Thing,” resulting in a $31.4 million charge to discontinue production.
Spotify first began offering Car Thing free to some of its Premium subscribers in the US on an "invite-only" basis in April 2021, before launching it to a "limited" waitlist of users in October priced at $80 (around £60, AU$110). More than two million people signed up, and Spotify struggled to meet demand due to ongoing chip shortages.
