FUTURE PROOF
As you just read, BMW has caused a fuss with its pay-per-month plan. Paul Horrell has his own take
BMW recently lit up the internet with an announcement about heated seats Huh? Hard to see why people got so hot under the collar about getting hot under the pants Anyhow Heated seats and steering wheel auto dip lights and some driver assist features were made available on a monthly fee The hardware is built in to all cars simplifying the production process and the fee activates it telling the car’s ECU to light up a screen menu icon
On the face of it BMW is taking the mick in charging a fee to owners to use something that’s already present Cue the pitchfork trolling mob But at risk of being seen as an industry shill let’s invert it A carmaker is doing what it always did with optional extras charging for them except it’s giving you the flexibility to pay only when you want and not when you don’t Heated seats in winter Motorway driver assist for a summer roadtrip It also means that the buyer of a secondhand car can get stuff the original owner didn’t order As long as the prices are reasonable everyone’s happy eh? But what is reasonable? After all to send a message over the air that unlocks over an already present features costs BMW precisely zero pence
Oh c’mon There’s R&D expense And it’s not like we aren’t used to this sort of commerce You have apps on your phone
“MOST OF US ARE STILL STUCK WITH THE NOTION THAT A CAR IS A HARDWARE DEVICE”
right? A smartphone has always been a software driven product so paying for apps often a monthly sub seems natural Most of us are still stuck with the notion that a car is a hardware device So we view it with a different lens Bum warmers have always been a tangible physical thing BMW is messing with our perception
It famously happened a few years ago with Photoshop a piece of software you once bought Then its maker Adobe moved to a subscription model and photographers everywhere screamed in fear that either the monthly price would rapaciously ramp up or the thing would be switched off and they’d be left with years worth of unviewable photos
BMW isn’t the only one Tesla offers a ‘Full Self Driving’ download even though it can’t actually be used now or in foreseeable future BMW says the monthly fee is designed to let you play with the feature for four weeks Then if you like it pay a one off amount similar to the new car option price to own it permanently With the advanced driver assistance that makes sense you can’t know if you’ll like it until you’ve tried it Some people don’t like their bum balmed either
Standing further back this stuff won’t stop Manufacturers have realised they might not be selling so many cars in future as people turn to car sharing Besides electric cars need less servicing and parts which have always made big money for car makers and dealers So they’re frantically looking for ways to make up for lost revenue Selling you software and services over the car’s life is one way to do it If ever BMW breaks its bond of trust and remotely switches off the features you’ve paid for then the pitchfork mob really can have at it
TG’s eco-conscious megabrain, Paul Horrell, is one of the world’s most respected and experienced car writers. Has attended every significant car launch since the Model T