German car manufacturer, BMW, is now selling subscriptions to use its heated seats in some countries. Initially reported by The Verge, “a monthly subscription to heat your BMW’s front seats costs roughly $18, with options to subscribe for a year ($180), three years ($300), or pay for “unlimited” access for $415.”
The subscription is currently rolling out in the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa. If customers purchase a car with the feature, a software will block them from using heated seats unless they pay up the subscription fee.
It’s not just heated seats, however. Other features have been hit by the new BMW subscriptions. Twitter user Jake Grove shared that his high beams would not work in his BMW 530e unless he bought access to it. The price tag? $12 monthly. Or $237 for unlimited access.
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Some features do not even have the option to pay monthly and must be bought upfront for up to $888. For example, alerts that notify the driver when they’re nearing a speed camera. This is a feature that comes for free on most smartphone maps however.
The full list of features locked behind a paywall in BMWs are: active cruise control with stop and go function, adaptive M suspension, Apple CarPlay preparation, the BMW drive recorder, the BMW safety camera information, Driving Assistant Plus, front seat heating, high beam assistant, IconicSounds Sport, the map update package, the online entertainment voucher, and steering wheel heating.
The situation has many online wondering if the future of microtransactions for cars is only increasing.
What do you think about this decision by BMW? Good or bad?
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