Your car can do more than you think: the hardware is already installed for many extras, but functions are only activated after payment. What caused a stir at BMW will soon become standard in the auto industry. FOCUS Online explains why.
You don’t exactly need them in the super summer, but who doesn’t like a comfortable seat heater in winter? Convertible drivers in particular are reluctant to place their behind on an icy cold leather armchair. What a lot of people don’t know: there could well be a heater in your seat, just the right button is missing. Because you were too stingy to set the equipment cross for the seat heating.
BMW has now rolled out a subscription model for seat heating in its vehicles. In Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea and Germany, customers can now book the option for 18 euros per month. A tweet from the tech site The Verge, which was about the subscription, caused heated discussions on Twitter. Depending on how often you want it to be warm, the costs increase: the annual subscription is available for 180 euros, for 300 euros you can enjoy warm seats for three years. If you pay a subscription of 415 euros, you can use the seat heating indefinitely.
BMW has been trying the subscription model since 2020 and only offers certain functions if the customer pays for them additionally. The special feature: The hardware – for example the heating elements in the seat – is installed in the cars anyway. However, they are only activated for a fee.
That smells a bit like money making. In fact, some industry experts believe it could be a billion-dollar business for automakers. Of course, this concept is not really new and BMW is not the only manufacturer to break new ground with car extras. When it comes to enabling functions later – or even restricting them – Tesla was more of a pioneer. Automakers are only just now realizing the full potential of bookable extras, and BMW is particularly creative.
The advantage of such a system for users: You can only accept certain extras if you really need them. In addition to the seat heating, BMW also offers steering wheel heating, for example, which costs 10 euros for a month – and can also be tested first. Nothing like this has existed before; if you had ordered extras for your car, but then hardly used them, the money was wasted. Now you can adapt your car much better to your – possibly changing – needs.
Not only comfort extras, but also all kinds of digital services can be selected and deselected. Manufacturers are also so active in this field because they don’t want to have the digital business snatched away completely by Google or Apple. But that doesn’t always go down well. “The trend has met with resistance from customers. After criticism, BMW recently abandoned a plan to charge around 80 euros per month for Apple CarPlay in the USA.
There are no limits for the fanatasy. For example, why not a car where the driver can book a specific engine output or maximum speed as desired? Or different charging capacities and ranges for electric cars? In any case, BMW’s digital spokesman Christophe Koenig assumes that the topics of efficiency and the environment will also play an important role in the choice of extras in the future.
Another advantage for manufacturers: in future, extras will no longer be tied to the car, but to the owner. If the car is resold used, the car manufacturer can earn something again if the new owner books extras that the previous owner didn’t have – or simply has to book them again. In this way, the car will finally become a digital business model.