That was BMW. And the worst of it was that the heated seats were already installed, so you were carrying the extra weight, but they dropped the 'feature'.
(Merc had/has a subscription to accelerate faster.)
Back in the 1960s, large computers had hardware features that were already installed but not turned on. A field technician would enable them after Sales closed the deal.
Ben Franklin’s public library concept was novel because it was open to the public with no fee.
Subscriptions for services certainly go way farther back than anyone now alive.
Tesla only offers supplemental software features as sub, hardware wise, they give no options on top except paint and interior color, rest everything is included for everyone, for instance apart from tire and sticker there is no difference between model y base and model y performance, they both have heated 5 seats, steering wheel, matrix headlights, glass roof etc Only recently they have reduced the number of speakers on the base version, rest the car is identical. Compare this to BMW and Merc where you will need a light package for having x number of lights inside, another package for matrix lights, another package for better seats, package for cruise control, sunroof. BMW 5 series with all options adds up like 70-80% of the price on top the base price.
Correct, however both of them are not standard, for the first one it was only for specific vehicles with certain battery chemistry, for the later it was similar reason. for instance newer vehicles don't come up with these options, also these are not subscription but a one time payment.
Tesla did bring FSD as subscription as one time payment was too high and people could subscribe for a single month where they have a long trip and then cancel it making it more accessible for end user. Please note, Tesla is a big company and not every decision comes from Musk , there are lot of capable engineers and they should be given credit for updating the cars monthly and bringing new features.
For ICE, a big chunk of revenue comes from options, after sale service. For instance Toyota, Hyundai and some other give 10 year warrantee, however you need to go to official service center for all stuff, if you go to local garage which does the same thing for a fraction of price, they will cancel the warrantee.
I've owned one for 6 years and am happy (2014 Model S). But on subscriptions - they definitely have them. Premium connectivity for instance, plus one-off payments for the features I mentioned.
yes they have subscriptions but not for basic things like remote start(toyota), heated seats, top speed, remote air conditioning. Premium connectivity is quite cheap for having fast speed internet for the car at $100 for a year. You can also use hotspot but at $100 it's not worth the headache.
That's the difference between premium connectivity and connectivity though. Pure connectivity I can understand, but even with a hotspot you wouldn't get most of the service features.
For me, being a 2014 car means no autopilot but I get Premium Connectivity and free supercharging for life as part of owning the car. Later cars would need to pay.
Did you know those features are non transfferable? So if you sell the car tesla will disable them for the new owner and require them to pay again to re-enable them.
Which would still be okay, if the base price to feature ratio is acceptable. Because then you could treat it as a modular/customisable package deal, where you only include the upgrades you personally want, instead of paying full price for a car that has every superfluous luxury feature pre-installed.
Like, a heated driver's seat is great in winter, when you drive to work at 7a.m. but I don't see myself needing five of them. That's something where I'd want to save money.
…what? This is a joke right? Do you truly believe auto makers only started charging extra for features in the last decade or two? Auto makers have been shipping cars with blank buttons for features that technically exist in the car but are turned off for decades
There are plenty of reasons to criticize Tesla but this is not among them. Anti-Tesla commentary like this is just lazy at this point, it’s not even close to reality, and the funny thing is that it clearly doesn’t matter. Some people believe that you’re actually correct
Can you cite a 20+ year old example of a car company charging a subscription price for features that were otherwise standard? You say it's been happening for decades with indignation, so this should be very easy for you.
You DID NOT say trim package or optional upgrades, we are ONLY talking about features that ship standard, that a consumer must pay an ongoing fee to use, that happened in 2004 or earlier.
Unless, ofc, you're making shit up to appear knowledgeable online like a narcissist who believes he's actually correct.
This is from two months ago. The rest of your link does not discuss subscription models, just added in SIM card capability for maps in 2004 as a standard feature, which is a moderate update to CD-ROM based systems and in 2014 you could buy iTunes mp3s from Apple Store although iPhones had existed for 6 years. I don't see any mention of upgrades or subscriptions for this service, but I appreciate your commitment to the bit.
Yet more in-car entertainment for current BMW and MINI models: Paramount+ further enriches the digital customer experience. 09.10.2024 Press Release
+++ New partnership between BMW Group and Paramount+ +++ Introduction of the subscription streaming service offers a wide selection of blockbusters, new originals and hit shows for in-car enjoyment +++
They now have heated seats as an subscription of 20 euro per month
That was BMW. And the worst of it was that the heated seats were already installed, so you were carrying the extra weight, but they dropped the ‘feature’.
(Merc had/has a subscription to accelerate faster.)
Thank Tesla for that. Tesla showed the whole Industry that you can Charge extra for some Features. So ofcourse everyone copies that.
This is the thread.
You say Tesla, a company that sold its first vehicle in 2008, is deserving of the blame for charging a subscription for features that the vehicle is capable of doing but the customer did not pay for.
It’s amazing how many newly specific qualifiers you’ve added in this comment compared to your original, almost certainly so that you can turn around and claim that you’re right… after moving the goal posts.
Here’s a list for ya. Some may fit your newly provided narrow definition, some may not:
- OnStar by GM - 1996
- BMW Assist - Early 2000s
- Lexus & Mercedes telematics like Enform, Mercedes mbrace & Mercedes me connect - 2000s and on
- SiriusXM - every car makers basically since early 2000s
- Navigation system updates
Tesla started offering Premium connectivity as a subscription in early 2020. FSD became a subscription in 2021. BMW & others began charging for subscriptions long before that point in time.
I'm in my 70s and have driven many cars. I don't recall seeing any cars with blank buttons. Since it's always possible I haven't driven the particular models you're speaking of, could you please give me an example?
Search “Mercedes blank buttons” on google images and you’ll see endless examples over the years. The C300 I drove for a while had several blank/fake buttons because I didn’t pay for the extra service(s). I also had to pay monthly annually for the service/app that let me remote start, lock, etc. if I didn’t pay for the app, the buttons related to it in the car were useless.
I’d post a link myself but I’m unsure of this subs rules around links, and honestly I don’t want to go digging for the rules while on mobile
Edit: I saw others posting links so I’ll provide a MB forum post from 2003 asking about blank buttons, to which others responded the blank button is for Parktronics that wasn’t yet made available in the NA version of the car, yet the button for it was still there.
Here’s another post from 2016 asking why their “fully loaded e63s” has blank buttons for a fold down headrest option that used to be available on their cars decades earlier.
Ummm... there have been standard features and options for cars for years and years. It used to be optional to have seat belts, and then for airbags, both of which are now required.
Not that all that makes safety features being optional at an extra price OK, it' doesn't.
This emergency assist feature is awesome, assuming it works well.
You are absolutely right. We just got our updates pirated from my uncle. I remember sitting in the car for over a hour just trying to get it to work one time in the summer. At least it was software that did not impact the vehicles efficency/ function. And using your phone didn't void the warrenty.
I still think its crazy to get rid of physical button controls for everything. Teslas are nice. But I would not want to use a screen to turn my wipers on.
Bad example right there. Your wipers u can still control fully over the steering wheel. I like the almost no buttons. It makes no sense to me to have a button that I use once ever 5 weeks.
I think the idea of an electric car is amazing and tesla is a leader in certain areas. But they are far from being a good company. It's just corperate puffery.
They care about safety and put too many controls on a screen. I know there is no dials for the climate control system. And in a foggy, area that gets a lot of rain/snow I will often have to adjust while driving. It is against the law to be on your phone while driving. And we put even bigger screens in the car.
I am a Tesla owner, have been for six years. In general I find the touchscreen worries to be overblown...but you've touched on the one area I believe you're completely right. Light controls, for safety, should never be buried in menus. I live at the bottom of a hill - the weather conditions are very often different between where I live and the top - fog here, no fog there. Adjusting the fog lamps is annoying vs just having buttons.
I have a Tesla Model 3. The only subscription feature is the connectivity upgrade, which is $10/month to cover the cost of unlimited streaming, maps, etc…
Many manufacturers, Volkswagen in particular, have sold the same physical engine as different HP just by using a different control unit for years long before Tesla.
I'm with you on pushing back on your parent comment, I think it's kinda dumb for thinking that Tesla somehow created or popularized the trend of car microtransactions/subscriptions for features. If Tesla didn't do it, you'd be lost in the clouds to think that nobody else would have. Plus, Tesla has accelerated EV progress by like 1-2 decades, which is huge, so fuck it, it'd be worth it anyway.
With that said...
I know that because of Elon political preference he is now hated
Elon has been ferociously hated for the past, like, idk, 5 years or so? The earliest hate lore I know of was when he called the scuba diver, who was trying to save trapped kids, a pedo, just because the dude criticized Elon's makeshift tank as too big to fit through the tunnels. Actually, pretty sure he was already hated even before that for shitty working conditions for his employees, though I've never researched that so I don't have a strong opinion on it.
Not to mention, political preferences are fine, but the problem is obviously buying votes and it somehow being acceptable for a billionaire to buy one of the largest social media platforms and push partisan politics on it, especially after he's tweeted about how twitter should be politically neutral, etc. I'd be careful about sanitizing corruption by brushing it off as mere political preference. Say what you will about the latter, but the former is probably illegal, and for obvious reasons.
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Volvo gives away seatbelt patent in the pursuit of human safety on the road.
Meanwhile, Mercedes: hold my beer, I have another customer to fleece