BMW charges a monthly fee to use heated seats, an à la carte subscription model that should become more popular.
The subscription model is spreading at a rapid pace, popularized in particular by tech giants. Today, even connected cars do this. BMW drivers in some countries will have to shell out $18 a month to use heated seats, The Verge reports.
BMW charges a monthly fee for heated seats
Heated front seats are one of many additional software options available through BMW ConnectedDrive in the UK, Germany, South Korea, New Zealand and South Africa. Other notable options include automatic high beams (about $12) and a heated steering wheel (about $12).
BMW drivers in these countries will not need to travel to a BMW garage to take advantage of these features. Since the hardware is already available in their vehicle, drivers will only need to pay the requested amount to activate the option via an over-the-air update on the BMW ConnectedDrive platform. They can also pay to unlock other features only available with an annual subscription, such as security camera alerts ($30) and access to an online music catalog ($213 per year).
An à la carte subscription model that should become more popular
BMW hasn’t specified its plans to integrate heated front seats, such as in France, but these sorts of microtransactions are becoming more democratic. In the US, for example, the automaker sparked controversy after charging $80 a year to use Apple CarPlay, a practice that eventually ended. However, this pay-per-feature model is alive and well in the US: BMW drivers, for example, have to pay extra for a number of software updates, $50 a year for ConnectedDrive access, and $200 a year (after the third year of use).) to update navigation charts.