[iknowstuff]

Well you didn’t pay for it though did you. The subscription is foul but the manufacturer choosing to streamline manufacturing by only having one variant restricted with software if you don’t pay is not particularly bad or surprising. Plus, easy to hack it back in, so win win

[port11]

It’s a bit of double dipping then: the streamlined production makes the seat cheaper, and people who subscribe further increase the margin on the heated seat.

I really don’t understand the subscription model applied to a physical piece of equipment that has no digital maintenance overhead.

[kevincox]

But the streamlined manufacturing is still more expensive than no heated seats. So someone needs to pay for it. There are two reasonable options 1. charge everyone a bit more by including it as a standard feature 2. charge only some people significantly more so that only the people who find heated seats worth it pay the cost.

It isn't double dipping, in no scenario does it make sense to physically make two models, it is more expensive for no gain. The question is just how you charge people for it.

(Now subscription seems like an awful model, but a paid upgrade for some people makes sense to me)

[loloquwowndueo]

A one-time unlock fee = sleazy but ok

A subscription fee = Drake no, that’s totally ridiculous and unholy.

I don’t know what the fee is but it’s have to be lower when aggregated over the car’s lifetime than what the one-time unlock would cost to make sense - and I’m fairly sure it’s not lower.

[port11]

I’m not a free market advocate, but… if you want a heated seat, you pay the extra for producing it specifically for that purpose, no? Otherwise the non-subscribers are ‘subsidising’ the cost of the special seat.

[loloquwowndueo]

Two things. First - I already paid a hefty sum for a luxury car, why do I have to pay extra for a functionality a fucking $20k kia has standard.

Second, your argument kind of holds if it’s a one-time unlock fee, but falls apart under the subscription model. That’s a total revenue stream cash grab.

[loloquwowndueo]

Or I can just not buy a bmw :)