BMW Is Giving Up on Heated Seat Subscriptions Because People Hated Them::The blowback worked—but subscriptions for software-based new car features will continue, according to a BMW board member.

  • Ton@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    BMW really doesn’t understand this business model. They tried to pull this shit with CarPlay in 2018 as well. Which one could buy as an €300 option, which was rediculous by itself, but was later moved to a fucking subscription.

    It also caused a huge uproar, largely forgotten by Covid now, but they also had to backtrack that. And now they’ve tried it again, also to backtrack again.

    Fix your cars to be a better value prop than that fuckface’s or the Chinese cars. Then you’ll make tons of money. Not by nickel and diming your customers.

    • Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No, you’re not understanding.

      They save money by only producing the luxury model. Then they disable the feature electronically.

      But to prevent you from just jailbreaking the car, they need to have a system to monitor your status. So they need to be able to check and update software that you can’t control, etc etc.

      It’s still greed, but it’s like greed with extra steps.

      People were objecting to the subscription, but they should have been objective to the locked features.

      They’ll never stop the shitification, it maximizes profit.

      • ammonium@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        People were objecting to the subscription, but they should have been objective to the locked features.

        Why though, if it’s cheaper? Do you rather pay for features you don’t use or pay to remove features?

        • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          everyone would use the features if available. It is more economic aka cheaper for bmw to just install the pricier heated seat in every car ibstead of adjusting to what the customer bought.

          But instead of passing the economic gain to the customers, they arbitrarily lock it to maximize profit.