Posted on 05/01/2026 2:03:37 AM PDT by dennisw
Popular Ford feature that has always been free now costs $455
Remember when buying a car meant paying once, grabbing the keys, and driving off into the sunset?
That era may be fading fast. Automakers are quietly transforming the way drivers pay for their vehicles - and your next car could come with a growing list of monthly charges long after you've left
General Motors is leading the charge, betting that subscriptions for features like navigation, safety systems, and hands-free driving will soon become a major profit engine - potentially generating billions of dollars a year and, in some cases, even more than selling the cars themselves.
GM says its software arm keeps about 70 cents of every dollar it makes - a staggering level of profitability in an industry where selling a car typically brings in just 4 to 10 cents on the dollar.
Instead of paying upfront for everything, drivers now get certain features included for a limited time - often just a few years - before being asked to pay monthly or annually to keep them.
In its latest earnings update on Tuesday, GM said it expects to generate $3.1 billion from digital subscriptions this year.
‘We think there’s a growth opportunity there with very attractive margins,’ CEO Mary Barra told investors.
GM already has around 13 million subscribers paying for various in-car services, and that number is expected to climb rapidly as more vehicles come equipped with built-in technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
This stupidity is where new car companies come from.
Manufacturing is REAL EASY to do with robotics and CAD/CAM.
Anyone who can produce a good car with reasonable features for a good price will dominate.
F’ Over Remodeled Dodge.
Just leased a new BMW and all features are available for the entire 4 years, except the criminal Sirius/XCM company subscription of 1 year or 6 months or whatever it is.
Sirius/XM criminally reactivated millions of dead subscriptions then sent “debt collections” to the old subscribers but that debt collection company was nothing but Sirius/XM claiming if you bought a two year subscription they would waive the debt collection fees.
“That’s how free markets work.”
No, that is fraud. Ya can’t claim to sell something then hit the owners with fees to use it. “Comes with heated seats!!!” ... At the sale: “P.S. For a monthly fee.
You are correct. Syd actually does some wrench work and more as she is guided along. IOW she was up for the challenge of restoring a Ford Bronco. The videos are here >>> https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Sydney+Sweeney+Ford+Bronco
I’m considering getting a Tesla. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you like it? Has it needed any repairs or maintenance? How comfortable are you with FSD and when do you decide to use it or not?
Do you find it distracting using the screen for all the control?
How much has the range degraded since you bought it?
Oh, I've got one. A nice Actron unit to be exact. The problem with most of what is available to the public, when it comes to OBDII readers, is that it is still limited in scope regarding just how much information it will decode. The one I have will do a lot, but the systems that are used in dealerships go to a whole other level, and require manufacturer proprietary information software to track down the more difficult to find problems... and I believe that to be by design. OBDII was supposed to be an industry wide agreed upon diagnostic software - and it is up to a point. But all manufacturers held back just a bit of proprietary information so that owners would have to still bring their vehicles in to the dealerships because the local mom & pop automotive repair shop couldn't locate the problem, even with their expensive "professional grade" diagnostic equipment from Snap-On Tools, etc., etc. Dealerships guard that proprietary software like it was gold, because it makes them a lot of money. John Q. Shadetree Mechanic can't afford the expensive professional equipment from the tool manufacturers because he will never recoup his expenses. Even if he could afford to go buy it and not worry about the costs, he would still be without the manufacturer's software and thus be unable to make the repair without a lot of detective work (the old fashioned way), which takes time and cuts into his time and whatever profit he is trying to make.
Two of my vehicles (the '68 and the '83) have carburetors, coils, plugs, an alternator, and a battery. The am/fm radios in them are the most complicated electronics in the entire vehicle. They're easy to work on and are very dependable. Of the other two, one is OBD1, the other is OBDII. The OBD1 vehicle is much easier to work on than the OBDII.
I work on all of them, but the old, pre-computer vehicles just seem to have a whole lot fewer issues...
Keep buying those monster trucks.
The dealer may not have explain it correctly, but that's on the dealer, not the manufacturer.
BTW, subscriptions can be cancelled.
Or are you the fraud (i.e., liar).
I'm not saying that you don't have a perfectly functional brain. What I am saying is that you are a troll...a troublemaker. You like stirring the pot.
Stirring the pot is something stupid people do.
Stirring the pot is fostering chaos.
Figure things out and present your ideas to people.
Negative thinking is easy but worthless.
Be positive.
<>Nissan work trucks with a manual transmissions and long beds with lashing hooks integrated into the bed rails.<>
<> It’s like they still make vehicles for working people in Mexico....oh wait ...<>
Congress doesn’t care that we cannot buy such vehicles.
We do not despise Congress enough.
“My estimation of you is that you are stupid.”
Takes one to know one.
I mean, really, you think with a limited amount of postings that you, a moron, can decide someone else is an idiot?? Only an idiot would conclude such a thing.
I don’t know what makes you so stupid, but it really works, and it seems you have mastered it.
As a Christian, I am more than an idiot. My fallenness is depraved. Unfortunately for you (being unaware of it), so is yours.
We cannot repent of sins we are not aware of. Being angry toward your brothers and sisters on FR is worthy of repentance. Am I wrong?
Anger is murder.
Dig down inside yourself and face your Savior and your pridefulness will go away.
Do that at your own peril.
I am not a Calvinist, but you might be evil by nature. Please consider the eternal consequences, Toad.
“Your anger against anyone who speaks the truth to you.”
Isn’t it a bit early for you old queens to be drinking?
“Do that at your own peril.”
Skinny old drunk queers like you don’t give anyone any peril except AIDS.
Yeshuah.
I am irrelevant. I am nothing.
But he is reaching out for you.
When you go to sleep tonight, ask him if he is who he says he is.
Ask him. It costs you nothing.
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