BMW drops controversial heated seat subscription after one season

[bbhaag]

In a surprise to probably no one except the dumb ass junior VPs at BMW who came up with this stupid idea BMW announced they will no longer charge customers a monthly subscription for heated seats. Make no mistake about it just becasue they dropped this idea they and other automotive manufacturers will still continue to find a way to charge the customer extra after the initial purchase.

BMW Drops Controversial Heated Seats Subscription Service

BMW has made a U-turn on a controversial subscription service that saw drivers pay a fee to activate the heated seats fitted to their car.

www.forbes.com

 

[vi edit]

In a surprise to probably no one except the dumb ass junior VPs at BMW who came up with this stupid idea BMW announced they will no longer charge customers a monthly subscription for heated seats. Make no mistake about it just becasue they dropped this idea they and other automotive manufacturers will still continue to find a way to charge the customer extra after the initial purchase.

BMW Drops Controversial Heated Seats Subscription Service

BMW has made a U-turn on a controversial subscription service that saw drivers pay a fee to activate the heated seats fitted to their car.

www.forbes.com

I'd like to know how many people will actually pay for Ford's "blue cruise" subscription. I'm sure as hell not.

 

[bbhaag]

I'd like to know how many people will actually pay for Ford's "blue cruise" subscription. I'm sure as hell not.

Exactly and I think this is the way more and more automobile manufacturers will go. They will start charging subscriptions for software related features like BC instead of hardware items like heated seats.

I almost mentioned BC in my OP so I'm glad you brought it up. The price that Ford wants to charge for this feature after the initial trial has ended is outrageous IMO. I purchased a 2023 Mach-E in January and when my 3 year trial is up I will not be renewing it.

For those not aware here is what Ford wants to charge for their "self-driving" BlueCruise. There has been no official announcement from Ford yet but this was posted on another forum I hang out on by the official Ford account.

So for me it will be $800 a year with a minimum 3 year subscription for a total of $2400. Get fucked Ford......🙄

 

[vi edit]

Yup. $800 a year is batshit insanity. I have no idea what ass they pulled that number out of. Someone did not do great market research on these.

Even $80 a year would get some side eye from me.

 

[manly]

Much ado about nothing.

Although the idea itself got tons of eye roll and bad reactions, it is a nothingburger. IIRC it didn't apply to North America; but even if it did, the consumer could choose between a monthly sub or a perpetual license. Let's say you own a BMW and live in Miami. You'll basically never need heated seats unless you took a winter road trip somewhere else. Why pay $500 if you don't need to?

You could argue that the addressable market that this affects is so small BMW shouldn't even have bothered. Ultimately the bad press wasn't worth it, and they figured that out.

It does seem to make better sense for something like Blue Cruise, if the pricing model is right. $80 is a tank of gas and a rounding error in TCO; shouldn't be any side eye at that annual level. 🙄 In general I'm not a big fan of subscriptions and there should be a debate about what should be a monthly recurring cost. But companies increasingly see subs as an important part of their business model (see Apple iCloud). Unless consumers are better are revolting (voting with their wallets), it's just the world that we live in.

 

[vi edit]

And this is my EV brain I guess. My "tank" costs $7-$8. I tend to do 90% of my hours behind the wheel in stop and go or too busy traffic that I can't use cruise.

And when I do finally get the car able to stretch it's legs, I've had nothing but beeps, buzzes, chimes and alerts under the full autonomy Blue Cruise. The basic lane assist and adaptive cruise is less annoying and doesn't cost anything.

And that's not too mention I went back to a gasoline engine because of charging limitations on even the progressive west coast for a lot of my longer drives.

There's still a ton of sensor and software gremlins for Ford to figure out for me to pay them $800 a year on top of the $50k+ entry price for.

 

[manly]

Gotcha, I've never used any car's ADAS so I wasn't stating the value proposition for Blue Cruise specifically. My point is that subscriptions are pretty standard for software and if it works well, I'd have no qualms about $80 a year. Automakers really need economies of scale for this to work, unless ultimately the entire self-driving stack is licensed from a 3rd party.

 

[Zorba]

I'd like to know how many people will actually pay for Ford's "blue cruise" subscription. I'm sure as hell not.

I was just told by a Chevy dealer that super cruise didn't require a subscription. I'd think that would kill the expensive blue cruise subscription.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Much ado about nothing.

Although the idea itself got tons of eye roll and bad reactions, it is a nothingburger. IIRC it didn't apply to North America; but even if it did, the consumer could choose between a monthly sub or a perpetual license. Let's say you own a BMW and live in Miami. You'll basically never need heated seats unless you took a winter road trip somewhere else. Why pay $500 if you don't need to?

You could argue that the addressable market that this affects is so small BMW shouldn't even have bothered. Ultimately the bad press wasn't worth it, and they figured that out.

It does seem to make better sense for something like Blue Cruise, if the pricing model is right. $80 is a tank of gas and a rounding error in TCO; shouldn't be any side eye at that annual level. 🙄 In general I'm not a big fan of subscriptions and there should be a debate about what should be a monthly recurring cost. But companies increasingly see subs as an important part of their business model (see Apple iCloud). Unless consumers are better are revolting (voting with their wallets), it's just the world that we live in.

Point being the cost is the same for the auto makers because the FL car has heated seats, why is this billed as a separate item or why is the feature disabled for those who do not pay. All the darn seats are heated.

 

[Zorba]

Point being the cost is the same for the auto makers because the FL car has heated seats, why is this billed as a separate item or why is the feature disabled for those who do not pay. All the darn seats are heated.

And they sure as shit aren't giving people a discount for having to pay for a subscription.

 

[manly]

Point being the cost is the same for the auto makers because the FL car has heated seats, why is this billed as a separate item or why is the feature disabled for those who do not pay. All the darn seats are heated.

Tesla installs its self-driving hardware onto all of its vehicles; the customer has an option of whether to pay for the software itself. Should Tesla enable FSD for free for everyone?
Look I'm not saying a subscription to heated seats makes good sense, and the negative reaction is totally understandable. However, in the markets where BMW offered the subscription, the customer could still buy the "perpetual" license as they always have. Heated seats were always a paid option on most trim levels; it's not like it was free before. I'm not necessarily trying to defend BMW; clearly their current business model depends heavily on adding on options to car sales. Their only "affordable" car in North America these days is the X1 (they used to have affordable 3 Series sedans, but not anymore). Frankly I'm a bit surprised they're doing as well as they are, but I guess it's because they have so many different SUVs to sell/lease.

The CarPlay option used to be an annual subscription and that pissed off BMW customers. In both cases, BMW recognized its mistake and changed its mind.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Tesla installs its self-driving hardware onto all of its vehicles; the customer has an option of whether to pay for the software itself. Should Tesla enable FSD for free for everyone?
Look I'm not saying a subscription to heated seats makes good sense, and the negative reaction is totally understandable. However, in the markets where BMW offered the subscription, the customer could still buy the "perpetual" license as they always have. Heated seats were always a paid option on most trim levels; it's not like it was free before. I'm not necessarily trying to defend BMW; clearly their current business model depends heavily on adding on options to car sales. Their only "affordable" car in North America these days is the X1 (they used to have affordable 3 Series sedans, but not anymore). Frankly I'm a bit surprised they're doing as well as they are, but I guess it's because they have so many different SUVs to sell/lease.

The CarPlay option used to be an annual subscription and that pissed off BMW customers. In both cases, BMW recognized its mistake and changed its mind.

That is a acceptable exception

 

[Red Squirrel]

This entire product as a service BS needs to be nipped in the bud. Really hate the direction stuff is going now days, not just with cars but everything. I have a bad feeling it's here to stay though. This is what they want, that we rent everything. You'll own nothing and be happy.

 

[Zorba]

Tesla installs its self-driving hardware onto all of its vehicles; the customer has an option of whether to pay for the software itself. Should Tesla enable FSD for free for everyone?
Look I'm not saying a subscription to heated seats makes good sense, and the negative reaction is totally understandable. However, in the markets where BMW offered the subscription, the customer could still buy the "perpetual" license as they always have. Heated seats were always a paid option on most trim levels; it's not like it was free before. I'm not necessarily trying to defend BMW; clearly their current business model depends heavily on adding on options to car sales. Their only "affordable" car in North America these days is the X1 (they used to have affordable 3 Series sedans, but not anymore). Frankly I'm a bit surprised they're doing as well as they are, but I guess it's because they have so many different SUVs to sell/lease.

The CarPlay option used to be an annual subscription and that pissed off BMW customers. In both cases, BMW recognized its mistake and changed its mind.

There is a big difference in something that needs constantly updated software and something that needs a push button switch. It's one thing if the heated seat was there and they made you pay extra for the button, that's normal. Charging a subscription to use physical hardware in your car is just stupid, unless they want to give me the car for free and charge me every time I use a feature.

 

[manly]

There is a big difference in something that needs constantly updated software and something that needs a push button switch. It's one thing if the heated seat was there and they made you pay extra for the button, that's normal. Charging a subscription to use physical hardware in your car is just stupid, unless they want to give me the car for free and charge me every time I use a feature.

(Be careful what you wish for.)

Again, they also provided a "perpetual license" option for heated seats. Same cost as it's recently been. In North America, the subscription was never made available.

Anyway, dumb idea was reversed so let's find better things to criticize BMW about. Anyone seen the XM reviewed?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Anyway, dumb idea was reversed so let's find better things to criticize BMW about.

BMW should start producing better drivers. 😛

 

[Zorba]

(Be careful what you wish for.)

Again, they also provided a "perpetual license" option for heated seats. Same cost as it's recently been. In North America, the subscription was never made available.

Anyway, dumb idea was reversed so let's find better things to criticize BMW about. Anyone seen the XM reviewed?

Licensing of hardware is stupid.