Much has been written in recent hours that BMW has introduced a $ 18 pass in several countries for those who want to use heated seats. There are already millions of people who pay subscriptions for the various options on the car, and the future can only mean more subscriptions, and not just on premium cars.
BMW interiorPhoto: BMW
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The press wrote that in South Korea, BMW customers have to pay a monthly subscription to be able to use certain equipment they already have on the car, such as heated seats or heated steering wheel, but also for additional driving assistance systems.
Such options have been discovered in configuration menus in Germany, New Zealand or South Africa, but there are no signs that these options are widespread at this time.
BMW has been heavily criticized for this subscription. The company was also “listened to” when it tried in the US to introduce an annual subscription of $ 80 for Apple CarPlay.
Car companies want to make more and more money on the software side and the subscription is an ideal way to do that. As cars are increasingly full of IT systems, access to various options can be controlled remotely by the manufacturer.
Companies present their cars as “wheeled computers” or “wheeled smartphones,” and some models even have so much technology (and dozens of chips) that various options can be quickly turned on or off remotely. to the manufacturing company. Being so simple, the thought will be to ask people for money every month for some options.
Receiving a monthly subscription for certain options on the car is not new, brands such as Tesla, Volkswagen, Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Audi, Cadillac and Porsche do this, especially in the US. It is clear that luxury and premium car manufacturers resort to such strategies, because they have customers with money, customers for whom a subscription of a few tens of dollars would not be a problem.
The problem is different: in a few years it is very possible that these subscriptions will “migrate” to the owners of bulky cars, and this will be a nuisance for customers, because cars have become more expensive in the last two years and people are not very they want to hear about new subscriptions.
It is estimated that in the US approximately 4 million vehicle owners produced by General Motors pay monthly subscriptions to use various options.
Surse: Business Insider, The Verge
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