[G30M]

If people pay they will sell them and find ways to charge more

If people don't pay they will reduce the price or stop selling them

That's the bottom line essentially

[B58-M340iX]

Good and bad for owners. Say someone specced a car and didn't want heated seats or BSM or whatever. The original owner doesn't have the features but lugs around all the component weight for things not used. The second owner says hey I'd like BSM and heated seats. You can pay for them outright and now magically you have the features. No expensive retrofits - it just begins to work. I see how it benefits. Decoupling features from packages is a nice touch, but BMW already nickel and dimes you to death with packages standard on a Kia.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by B58-M340iX

Good and bad for owners. Say someone specced a car and didn't want heated seats or BSM or whatever. The original owner doesn't have the features but lugs around all the component weight for things not used. The second owner says hey I'd like BSM and heated seats. You can pay for them outright and now magically you have the features. No expensive retrofits - it just begins to work. I see how it benefits. Decoupling features from packages is a nice touch, but BMW already nickel and dimes you to death with packages standard on a Kia.

If it were to happen. Would be interesting to see how they combat piracy. I’d expect mods and hacks to be in place to unlock all of the “locked” features for free. Especially since this would be targeted mostly at second and third owners who are less likely to be under warranty and using BMW for servicing and repairs.

Might breathe a lot of new life into the modding and coding scene.

[EngineGoBrrr]

Businesses speak the language of money, so we will just vote with our wallets.

Paying for software makes more sense than hardware. Since there are necessary updates throughout its life cycle. Paying to unlock increased power for Polestar or MB is essentially paying for a warranty on a tune. How they approach it is a different issue as Polestar is a one time payment whereas MB is a subscription.

Having a subscription just to turn on existing hardware will most likely not sit well with consumers. I understand that the original owner and subsequent owners may or may not want the heated seats and can subscribe to their liking. But if the car originally has heated seats, then it would also have an impact on the resale value.

Would be interesting to see if they start charging a subscription for AWD later down the line. Where your car is RWD only unless you pay a monthly subscription for AWD. Because by the same logic, one would only need AWD during the winter months, correct?

[F32Fleet]

It's ridiculous because the hardware is already installed. Believe it or not but there is a difference in the feel between seats with and without the heating elements.

[cooolone2]

Leasing and subscriptions, well ok. Seems to fit the market for those who don't want to own or retain ownership. For those who purchase or intend to keep their vehicles, then subscription is ridiculous!

The problem is BMW fixing what isn't broken. It's not introducing subscription on a market need, they're creating the need. Same goes for the recent exterior discombobulation of their formerly attractive designs...

Subscription + Poor Aesthetics will work out great for BMW... Lol