BMW Is Giving Up on Heated Seat Subscriptions Because People Hated Them

[Andrew L]

https://www.thedrive.com/news/bmw-is-giving-up-on-heated-seat-subscriptions-because-people-hated-them

 

Last year, BMW underwent media and customer hellfire over its decision to offer a monthly subscription for heated seats. While seat heating wasn't the only option available for subscription, it was the one that seemed to infuriate everyone the most, since it concerned hardware already present in the car from the factory. After months of customers continuously expressing their displeasure with the plan, BMW has finally decided to abandon recurring charges for hardware-based functions.

"What we don’t do any more—and that is a very well-known example—is offer seat heating by [monthly subscriptions]" BMW marketing boss Pieter Nota said to Autocar. "It’s either in or out. We offer it by the factory and you either have it or you don’t have it."

BMW's move wasn't solely about charging customers monthly for heated seats. Rather, the luxury automaker wanted to streamline production and reduce costs there by physically installing heated seats in every single car, since 90% of all BMWs are bought with seat heaters anyway. Then, owners who didn't spec heated seats from the factory could digitally unlock them later with either a monthly subscription or a one-time perma-buy option. Nota still believes it was a good idea.

[Andrew L]

Got to love the people in the comments jumping through hoops saying how this is ACTUALLY a good idea for the customer and a win win.... FOH

[rmc523]

I think it was a ridiculous idea, and I'm glad there was backlash.  If you order the option, you pay for it in the purchase price, and you have it.  Period.

 

What I DO support is the ability to upgrade after purchase via a few paths:

1) a one-time purchase price slightly over original sticker price (say, $300 for heated seats if it was originally a $250 option) - the feature becomes permanent

2) a monthly payment plan that ultimately totals to that one time price, or maybe slightly higher so the manufacturer gets something out of letting you do it monthly, (so let's say $330/12 months = $27.50 per month until $330) - the feature becomes permanent after "feature payments" are completed

3) an "on demand" option for someone may only want heated seats 1 month out of the year - say $30-40 per month until you stop paying the monthly fee - the feature remains "on demand", and you lose the ability to use that feature when/if you don't pay for that month.

 

This gives the manufacturer the ability to have some "post purchase" monthly revenue they want (and build them all the same), while still giving customers an option to permanently upgrade the vehicle unless they specifically choose to only use/pay for a feature on a monthly basis.

 

The gray area is features like Blue Cruise, where - though I don't like the monthly payment thing - they're at least constantly upgrading the functions of the system, plus adding additional areas that it can be used in, so there's some justification to a continual payment for that, whereas, a heated seat is a heated seat whether you paid for it 3 years ago, or today, nothing is changing on it.

[rperez817]

BMW's decision affirms the wisdom of Jim Farley's strategy with connected cars at Ford. BMW Changes Mind, Won't Charge For Things Like Heated Seats (fordauthority.com)

 

Early last year, BMW made waves when it announced that it would be charging customers extra to activate certain features in its vehicles,

including a heated seat subscription that drew a rather scathing response from Ford CEO Jim Farley. This was notable as Farley is a big proponent of connected vehicle services, which he believes could net the automaker $20 billion in annual revenue by 2030 via 32 million OTA capable vehicles by 2028. A few months later, Farley clarified that Ford only plans on charging customers extra for more substantive features that “are going to make people’s lives better,” such as BlueCruise.

[T-dubz]

I always hated this idea. To be able to offer a subscription to heated seats, that means you now have to build every vehicle with seat warmers, which adds cost to the vehicle. I’m sure those costs get passed along to the customer in the form of higher msrp. So essentially, you are already paying for the heated seats, just not able to use them.

 

I’m against subscriptions of any kind in a car, but if they are here to stay, they need to only be on software, and not on physical hardware.