Posted on 02/06/2022 9:39:03 AM PST by yesthatjallen
How would you feel about paying $5 each month for the ability to lock and unlock your car from a distance through an app? What about a $25-per-month charge for advanced cruise control or $10 to access heated seats? What if those charges continued long after your car was paid off?
As vehicles become increasingly connected to the internet, car companies aim to rake in billions by having customers pay monthly or annual subscriptions to access certain features. Not content with the relatively low-margin business of building and selling cars, automakers are eager to pull down Silicon Valley-style profits. But unlike with Netflix, you won't be able to use your ex-girlfriend's uncle's login in your new BMW.
For automakers, the advantage of this model is clear. Not only do they get a stream of recurring revenue for years after an initial purchase, they can hope to maintain a longer-term relationship with the customer and build brand loyalty, said Kristin Kolodge, an analyst at JD Power.
This approach can also allow carmakers to streamline manufacturing by building cars to more uniform specifications, Mark Wakefield, who runs the automotive and industrial practice at the consulting firm AlixPartners, told Insider. Down the line, owners can add on the features they want à la carte.
It's all made possible by the advent of over-the-air software updates, which were pioneered by Tesla around a decade ago and are now entering the mainstream. Today's vehicles are more internet-connected and computerized than ever before, meaning car companies can reach deep inside a vehicle to add new capabilities and tweak things from a distance.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“Your Honor, I didn’t mean to cause the massive, exploding pile up. My wife just forgot to pay the braking subscription!”
Siss Boom Bah?
“A minute later using such chips will be a felony. “
Did you know its a crime to commit crimes? Because that is true, crime is nonexistent and does not occur.
My ‘05 F350, 4x4, super duty, V8 turbo-diesel, Harley edition, agrees with you.
Purrs like a kitten and looks new.
It looks like the future business model is cars linked to the internet even if you own them outright. 'That's how they get ya'.
Are these fees ....... “mandated?”
I predict widespread feature hacking if this goes mainstream on the same scale as drinking during prohibition.
Exactly. Maybe it would bring down the MSRP a little bit if you had to subscribe to some of the extras. The last several vehicles I've owned came with cruise control. I'm sure it was an upcharge but it's a feature that I've just never used. Same for heated seats.
Great now I will need a lawyer to advise me on the vehicle closing document. Lookie here it says you are renting the wind screen wipers. And here where you are renting the headlights.
I had heated seats in my Mercedes. I think I used them twice.
lol great movie
My Mazda has seat-warmers. I might use them a couple of times a year. I could certainly live without them.
Never use them so forgot I had heated seats. I accidentally hit the round knob on the center console about 6 months ago and for the first minute or two of the heater being on, I thought I was having a male hot flash. “I’m past menopause age and I’ve never transitioned so why is this hapeening??!”
Right to repair and to own should be a constitutional amendment.
A) Business Insider is leftist agitprop.
B) I live in Michigan, have my whole life, have never had nor wanted heated seats
C) heated seats are for Charlie Sheen's character in Two and a Half Men, or for real life people with more money than brains
Right to repair and to own should be a constitutional amendment.
we live in interesting times................
😮
I want a dumb car that I can drive. Don’t want extra BS.
But this sounds like an opportunity for some people that know how, to make stuff so people won’t have to pay for “extras”.
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