[anon373839]

> Rather, the luxury automaker wanted to streamline production and reduce costs there by physically installing heated seats in every single car, since 90% of all BMWs are bought with seat heaters anyway.

They could’ve just taken a page from Audi’s playbook and made heated seats standard. No subscription bs.

[raincole]

Is it really too much to ask it with heated seats built-in? For a luxury automaker...

[imperialdrive]

We're living in interesting times.

Grandparents often would not believe the headline, and that's understandable. However, they would also sneer at such a sneaky idea as what BMW brought to the table. They're at peak marketing if they actually believed whatever professional advice led to charging for heated seats in a supposedly "luxury" brand vehicle. Wow

[ineptech]

I don't think that sweet, sweet heated seat revenue is the endgame here, I assume this is the POC for an in-car app store.

(I say "is" rather than "was" because everybody bitched when they forced ads onto smart TVs and swore they'd never buy one, and yet it's nearly impossible to find a name brand TV without them. Won't be long before there's a monthly fee to mute the voice telling you what's on sale at every burger joint and strip mall you drive by)

[gabereiser]

I solved that by not owning a TV. Sadly, you are probably right. It happened at the gas station pump, smart TV’s, now your OS. Tomorrow your car.

[beefield]

I solved that by buying a tv that was on sale (sales guy warned that they have gotten lots of returns because the smart features were somehow not so good on the model) and promptly never connected it to internet. So far no ads outside tv channels' own ads.

[gabereiser]

You still have ads.

[Etrnl_President]

Puncture loudspeakers, and use external audio.

[simonjgreen]

They would also expect BMW to nickel and dime you. BMW are notorious for the options. I recall when the radio was optional.

[not_alexb]

> Is it really too much to ask it with heated seats built-in? For a luxury automaker...

Lol. Porsche takes this to a whole other level in my experience.

[dicriseg]

Im surprised a seat comes standard in a Porsche.

[FreshStart]

It's not. All parts are made to Porsche standards. Meaning.. Industrial standard parts - 1/porsche of a mm on all bemassungen.

[1letterunixname]

Even my cheap* 2005 Infiniti G sport coupe back in the day had heated seats.

* $31.6k + 8% tax. Couldn't fit into a used one, so had to order it new deleting the sunroof.

I expect a luxury vehicle (that I can fit into) to have both heated and cooling seats because it's damn hot here.

One problem with too many features is they add complexity and they break. Only add features that are essential because most are a rent-seeking ripoff. Preferably, a low mileage used vehicle that's periodically but barely driven by a retired elderly person is best.

[nvy]

My 1991 Saab had heated seats. This is just seeing what they can get away with.

[implements]

Back in the 80s, BMW considered a radio an optional extra.

Admittedly they fitted a Blaupunkt (when that was a luxury brand), but still …

[ShrigmaMale]

cheap hotels advertise free wifi. expensive ones charge you for it.

[deelowe]

Depends. Will you pay a subscription if they don't? We all know what they were doing...