According to BMW, this means you might in theory pay to activate those heated seats and guiding wheel initially installed in your vehicle, or maybe even flick on the automobiles automatic high-beams. You can also purchase a brand-new note through BMWs IconicSounds catalog– no wrenching required if you elegant a brand-new engine sound. Even advanced security features like Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) arent safe from the hands of the membership service.
Hey, some great news: you can get a trial period for numerous of those items! It appears that while some functions might be subscription-based, others might be allowed to purchase as a one-time charge. So as long as youre prepared to pony up the extra cash, BMW will activate the function via an over-the-air software application update initiated from within the car or the brand-new My BMW mobile app.
To get a sense of why BMW may be doing this, we have to revisit the launch of the BMW 4 Series. Particularly, the concept that Adaptive Cruise Control is an optional feature on a premium car that starts above $45,000.
Throughout a chat with Andreas Ederer, the head of 4 Series job team, and Jos Van As, the head of 4 Series vibrant team, they told The Drive that one of the reasons that adaptive cruise control isnt basic on numerous present BMW vehicles is due to the take rate. It was exposed that less than 25 percent of customers select to purchase ACC, citing the large gap left between vehicles while on the road– primarily that drivers didnt want other vehicle drivers utilizing the opening to cut ahead in heavy traffic.
In the future, from the appearances of it, functions like ACC will already be set up, and owners might potentially decide to update after leaving the lot, at some point down the road– which is great for BMW. For consumers, nevertheless, we cant feel however help that this cash-grab is rather slimy.
BMW Is Planning to Sell Heated Seats and More as a Subscription (No, Really) – The Drive
