German automobile manufacturer BMW is diving into the world of microtransactions for some of its vehicle features.
The latest in the bunch is a subscription for heated seats, as part of BMW’s “Connected Drive,” as spotted in its South Korean store, as spotted by Jalopnik.
BMW has been putting features behind a subscription paywall since 2020, with heated seats being the newest addition in countries like Germany, New Zealand, the U.K., South Africa and now South Korea.
In the country, the new heated seat feature would set users back, ₩24,000 (roughly $24 CAD) per month, $368 CAD for a three-year subscription, or $528 CAD for a lifetime subscription. Subscribing to the feature doesn’t mean that a BMW employee will come to your house and replace the seats. The features offered are all built into the company’s car. However, they are locked behind a paywall, and are only accessible once you subscribe to it.
A greedy move to say the least. Other features, like being able to record footage from your vehicle’s camera can be justifiably locked behind a subscription plan, whereas a basic necessity in cold regions, such as heated seats that are already built into the vehicle, shouldn’t be hidden behind a microtransaction.
Customers can also opt for a heated steering wheel, though that too comes at an additional cost of roughly $13 CAD per month, $209 CAD for three years and $288 CAD for a lifetime subscription.
We aren’t certain whether BMW plans to bring a similar subscription model to Canada or the United States
Source: Jalopnik
