BMW: ‘You get used to a subscription for seat heating’

In South Korea and the United Kingdom, among others, BMW offers under the heading Functions on Demand or Bookable Functions subscriptions for the use of things that are simply already present in the car. Think of seat heating, automatic high beam or the Driver Assistant Plus package in which you can go about your business semi-autonomously. This caused some commotion, including in international car media and among BMW drivers. After all, you pay monthly for things that are already in the car in terms of hardware, although you also have the choice to use the options forever, which in fact corresponds to regular payment for an option. BMW believes that a system, in which you pay on a monthly basis for the use of options, gets used to it and will stick to it in a select number of markets, according to Bloomberg.

“We know that our customers’ needs are no longer as immutable as they used to be,” a BMW spokesperson told Bloomberg. According to Bloomberg, BMW believes that paying monthly for the use of certain options offers more flexibility. For example, you could only pay for the use of your seat heating in winter, or a semi-autonomous driving system only for holidays or long journeys. Bloomberg writes that BMW envisions a future in which you can unlock more engine power even for a single ride by paying a one-time amount. BMW is expected to generate sales of around €5 billion this decade for subscription constructions for the use of options as described above.

In the United Kingdom you get heated seats for €12 per month and heated seats for €18 per month. To be clear: you do not pay for the option when you purchase the subscription, although you can use the ‘unlimited’ option for the full hit.