BMW rolls out heated seat, steering wheel subscriptions

[Franco Cozzo]

BMW rolls out heated seat, steering wheel subscriptions – UPDATE: Not in Australia yet

BMW will now sell you the heated seats in your car as a monthly subscription, for a little more than a high-resolution Stan or Netflix subscription.

12 July 2022, 1:30pm: BMW has begun offering heated seats and in-built dash cams as subscription services – much like your monthly subscription to Stan, Netflix or Spotify.

Seen in overseas markets including South Korea, BMW's ConnectedDrive online store now offers the ability to purchase heated front seats, a heated steering wheel or an in-built dash cam as monthly subscriptions.

UPDATE, 12 July 2022, 4:15pm: Since publishing, Drive has been advised the BMW heated seat and steering wheel subscriptions are not currently available in Australia, and the listings on the Australian ConnectedDrive store are not correct. This story has been updated accordingly.

"We are constantly evolving our digital offering for our customers, but we have no plans to introduce these features [heated seats and steering wheel subscriptions] at this time," a BMW Australia spokesperson said in a statement to Drive.

The BMW Drive Recorder and automatic high-beam features – among others – were already available in Australia, and will continue to be offered.

Drive understands future BMW models launching in Australia over the coming 12 months may unlock the heated front seat and steering wheel functionality listed on the ConnectedDrive store, though this is yet to be confirmed.

Provided their vehicle is equipped with the required technical hardware, the ConnectedDrive store says buyers could spend $19 per month on a heated steering wheel or the BMW Drive Recorder dash cam, or $29 for heated seats. These prices are yet to be announced by BMW Australia.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/bmw-au...ions-detailed/

Its starting gents and non gents, it wouldn't be too long before the IT industry influenced the grubby bean counters in automotive with their practices - cars come with features like dash cams, heated seats et al but are locked away under software subscriptions with monthly/yearly fees to be able to use them.

I think we're seeing the future of automotive unravel here, even though you buy the car it is still not yours to use it how you wish without paying extra fees to access features.

Its not happening here in Australia - yet.

I suspect we won;t have trim levels anymore, just one model which has all the hardware but monthly subscription fees to access the features what you'd usually pay more for in a higher spec car.