Future cars with “subscription hell”: seat heating at BMW is just the beginning

In the current economic climate, more and more companies are looking for new ways to make money. At the same time, with the possibility of phasing out combustion engines in the EU from 2035, a transformation towards electromobility is in the offing. However, electric cars inherently have less maintenance-intensive components compared to a combustion engine car. In order to still be able to generate income in the lucrative aftersales area, more and more car manufacturers are relying on subscription models. The German premium brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes are already pushing ahead. BMW already sells seat heating either as a subscription or permanently activated. However, this is just the beginning. According to In a Cox Automotive survey, only 25 percent of car buyers want monthly or annual fees Pay to unlock vehicle features. However, the auto industry apparently wants to give it a try.

What would new car customers take out a subscription for in the car?

The interested parties surveyed would be most willing to pay for security functions. More than 80 percent of the study participants would pay a maximum of 35 US dollars a month to be able to use a lane departure warning system, for example. In the case of comfort functions, on the other hand, the willingness to pay is not so high. With the introduction of the BMW Operating System 8.0 for models such as the BMW iX electric car, there are completely new possibilities for the Munich car manufacturer. The hardware that drives the display network was developed in cooperation with Qualcomm. Together with suppliers, BMW Car IT GmbH has developed a Linux distribution with the BMW OS 8.0 and from the coming year 2023 it will also be available in selected BMW models in parallel with their own OS still give Android Automotive OS, but without Google services.

With the BMW OS 8.0 infotainment system, individual comfort and assistance systems can be sold later. With the new versions of the BMW X1 and BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, the automaker is testing – in some countries – a new sales model for special equipment. According to the price list from July 2022, there will be preparations for seat heating and steering wheel heating as an extra in the premium package for both vehicle models built at the end of 2022. For example, there is the 2er Active Tourer for a surcharge the “preparation for seat heating for driver/passenger” (equipment code 9QT), whereby BMW writes “Activation in the BMW shop on the Internet, via the My BMW app or in your vehicle is possible later for a fee”. Alternatively, it is still possible to buy the seat heating manually for 350 euros with the equipment code 494. In addition to the seat heating, BMW also offers a steering wheel heating subscription, whereby customers in Austria have to pay more than in Germany.

To activate it, you must have a BMW user account and activate the special equipment in the Connecteddrive Store after purchasing the car for a fee. In addition to the subscription for 17 euros per month, you can also activate the seat heating unlimitedly for 385 euros, if the previous owner bought the preparation. This procedure results in several advantages for BMW. On the one hand, 385 euros is around 35 euros more than the seat heating in the previous model costs extra. On the other hand, a user account with BMW is mandatory so that other services can be sold in the Connecteddrive Store. For BMW customers, on the other hand, this means that they may have to pay more than before. After all, the owner also has the freedom, such as that Subscription to seat heating for just one month for 17 euros and therefore cheaper to drive with a warm bottom. In addition, used car buyers can retrofit a BMW with features without having to drive to the workshop. In addition to seat heating, selected assistance systems such as adaptive cruise control are also sold in the Connecteddrive Store. In the future, many more “functions on demand” will be added. For example, the new BMW 7 Series and the electric car i7 will have a theater screen, which is a Fire TV stick built into the car for the rear passengers. To use it, you need paid data volume and an Amazon account. However, DLCs should be used by more and more car manufacturers, as we show on the next page as an example. Many a car manufacturer would even like to turn cars into rolling game consoles. Tesla serves as a model here, installing an infotainment system with an AMD Ryzen and RDNA 2 graphics chip that offers enough power for Cyberpunk 2077.