When BMW began charging an $18-a-month subscription for heated seats in 2022, the backlash was swift and brutal. Customers have banded together, urging others not to encourage this kind of behavior by car manufacturers, fearing it will open the door to more greed.
“I already paid for it!” one Reddit user cried. “The damned devices are in your car and you’ve already paid for it!”
Customers have complained that signing up for the hardware feature only makes sense if the upfront cost is small or nonexistent — not when a person has already spent about $50,000 on a luxury car.
Now it appears that BMW will not charge customers to activate hardware-based functions in the future, according to Word. Autocar Interview with Peter Nota, Member of the BMW Board of Management for Sales and Marketing. However, Nota said BMW intends to expand its offering of on-demand software services and functions with future models, such as driving and parking assistance. The automaker is increasing vehicle connectivity through over-the-air updates.
“We thought we would provide an additional service to the customer by having the opportunity to activate it later, but user acceptance is not high,” Nota told Autocar. “People feel like they paid double – which in reality wasn’t true, but perception is reality, as I always say. That’s why we stopped it.”
On the other hand, paying for and downloading software services is well accepted by consumers who are accustomed to this process thanks to their ownership of smartphones.
Other automakers also offer subscriptions to software services in order to increase revenue. Tesla, for example, charges $12,000 (again) for its “full self-driving” driver assistance system. GM aims to have a Netflix-sized subscription business by 2030 by selling services like OnStar in-car concierge.