BMW lets go of subscriptions for heated seats

BMW is no longer offering subscription fees to customers for heated seats in an early indication there will be limits for manufacturers to reap new revenue from software-based services.

Telling Autocar, BMW’s head of sales and marketing Pieter Nota revealed that the company will be offering heated seats and wheels as optional equipment, rather than outfitting its vehicles with the hardware and charging consumers later. The luxury car maker then confirmed the comments and said it will continue to offer functions such as remote engine start and driver-assistance features on demand.

Nota  also said: “We thought that we would provide an extra service to the customer by offering the chance to activate that later. People feel that they paid double — which was actually not true, but perception is reality.”

Car makers such as General Motors, Ford and Tesla, have also been testing the willingness of consumers to pay to access certain in-car services with manufacturers keen to tap new profit pools. GM expects between US$20-billion and $25-billion/year in software revenue by 2030, chiming broadly with predictions by Jeep-maker Stellantis.

At the current moment, the industry is working to catch up with Tesla, which has been delighting owners for years with playful software features like musical car hooters or Christmas light shows that appear after a software update.

In other places, drivers have been much less willing to engage with paid-for tech, particularly when it means forking out to use features relying on pre-installed hardware, such as the remote-start function on a key fob or simply going faster.