BMW Heated Seats Subscription Costs $18 Per Month

[Dr_B]

This is all about the stock price.

A lot of manufacturers are adding subscription services as a way of making up for lost revenue due to modern cars needing less maintenance. They’re promoting these subscriptions to their boards and investors as a future profit center.

It’s one of the main reasons cars are not shipping with Apple Car Play; they want you to buy the manufacturer’s subscription music services. It was explicitly stated in the prospectus for the Rivian IPO last year that they are going with a subscription model for add-ons.

How much can automakers expect to earn from these subscriptions? Who knows. How many oil-changes worth of income will these subscriptions replace? The automakers and their investors are counting on that revenue, so they’re hoping it’s a lot.

 

[joec]

This is all about the stock price.

A lot of manufacturers are adding subscription services as a way of making up for lost revenue due to modern cars needing less maintenance. They’re promoting these subscriptions to their boards and investors as a future profit center.

It’s one of the main reasons cars are not shipping with Apple Car Play; they want you to buy the manufacturer’s subscription music services. It was explicitly stated in the prospectus for the Rivian IPO last year that they are going with a subscription model for add-ons.

How much can automakers expect to earn from these subscriptions? Who knows. How many oil-changes worth of income will these subscriptions replace? The automakers and their investors are counting on that revenue, so they’re hoping it’s a lot.

Frankly, the whole world is going subscription. So this isn’t surprising. How successful they will be is an open question. But that sweet, sweet steady revenue is hard to resist.

 

[Chirpy]

As far as I can tell in the U.K. when you buy an option (active cruise control for example) that will stay with the car for its life. They don’t need to be repurchased when the car transfers ownership. Nothing changes in that example.

If you buy a car without active cruise and it was built with it, you seem to now have the option to pay to turn it on. That’s what’s changed.

It seems BMW is taking a leaf from Tesla’s book and building certain options into a wider range of cars because presumably they judge the opportunity outweighs the cost?

I’ve been an enthusiastic BMW driver for years, but as well as the iX drives, I can’t come to terms with how it looks.

 

[Steveinarizona]

As far as I can tell in the U.K. when you buy an option (active cruise control for example) that will stay with the car for its life. They don’t need to be repurchased when the car transfers ownership. Nothing changes in that example.

If you buy a car without active cruise and it was built with it, you seem to now have the option to pay to turn it on. That’s what’s changed.

It seems BMW is taking a leaf from Tesla’s book and building certain options into a wider range of cars because presumably they judge the opportunity outweighs the cost?

I’ve been an enthusiastic BMW driver for years, but as well as the iX drives, I can’t come to terms with how it looks.

Ditto.

 

[Vik2002]

It is not as bad as it sounds. You can still buy it outright.

But yes, that’s a trend we are seeing with a lot of manufacturers. Even my volvo makes me pay for remote start through the app subscription (though it free for first 3-4 years).

 

[Shuasha]

I hate subscription models, but I don't see the problem with this. It seems like a win/win/(win).

It's a win for BMW production because they can lower the number of parts they have to stock and variations in the build. Every seat has the heater in it (which costs almost nothing) and they don't have to warehouse different spares.

It's a win for the buyer, because if you didn't want to spend $900 for them at purchase, they can buy it later or just during winter months. The second buyer has the option to buy them as well. You don't HAVE to do monthly subscriptions, you can just outright buy it after the fact and that wasn't an option before.

It's kind of a third win for the buyers at some point when they just hack the car to enable the heaters without the subscription.

 

[borski]

I hate subscription models, but I don't see the problem with this. It seems like a win/win/(win).

It's a win for BMW production because they can lower the number of parts they have to stock and variations in the build. Every seat has the heater in it (which costs almost nothing) and they don't have to warehouse different spares.

It's a win for the buyer, because if you didn't want to spend $900 for them at purchase, they can buy it later or just during winter months. The second buyer has the option to buy them as well. You don't HAVE to do monthly subscriptions, you can just outright buy it after the fact and that wasn't an option before.

It's kind of a third win for the buyers at some point when they just hack the car to enable the heaters without the subscription.

I didn’t realize you could still purchase it outright, but it is a sign of things to come, and I suspect eventually you won’t be able to.

 

[Sandvinsd]

Tesla will start charging for the NAV….

Tesla's Navigation Is No Longer Free For Life

Subscription-based services are likely here to stay in an era of connected cars. BMW's rollout of monthly subscriptions for some luxury features such as heated seats did not receive a warm reception, and Volkswagen is looking into a subscription-based model for autonomous driving technologies...

carbuzz.com

 

[Tesla2.0]

Tesla will start charging for the NAV….

Tesla's Navigation Is No Longer Free For Life

Subscription-based services are likely here to stay in an era of connected cars. BMW's rollout of monthly subscriptions for some luxury features such as heated seats did not receive a warm reception, and Volkswagen is looking into a subscription-based model for autonomous driving technologies...

carbuzz.com

As 30% industry highest gross margin isn’t good enough.
What is next? $10 = 100 uses of charge port door opening?

 

[Tesla2.0]

Tesla will start charging for the NAV….

Tesla's Navigation Is No Longer Free For Life

Subscription-based services are likely here to stay in an era of connected cars. BMW's rollout of monthly subscriptions for some luxury features such as heated seats did not receive a warm reception, and Volkswagen is looking into a subscription-based model for autonomous driving technologies...

carbuzz.com

People will now complain louder for lack of CarPlay for AppleMap, GoogleMap and Waze.

Only Tesla can get away with all these new subscriptions after acquiring highest market share.

 

[LCIDdreams]

People will now complain louder for lack of CarPlay for AppleMap, GoogleMap and Waze.

Only Tesla can get away with all these new subscriptions after acquiring highest market share.

Looks like it will be after 8 years.

I’m getting sick of micro subscriptions- Apple Music, Tidal, Netflix, Apple TV…etc. etc. etc. Once it gets into heated seats and nav I’m definitely looking into hacks.

Note BMW tried charging monthly for CarPlay… around 2018 I think. There was so much outcry they backpeddled but it wouldn’t surprise me if carmakers have another go.