[RahulNagaraj]

According to media reports, the auto industry is shifting into overdrive with subscription fees for in-car features. The automakers are reportedly counting on subscription fees to become a new revenue stream to pay for the expensive transition to EVs.

Carmakers are placing multiple in-car features behind a paywall, forcing customers to pay extra for their usage. Reports took the case of a Volvo XC90 owner as an example, stating how he had to pay $200 a year to be able to start & stop his car via an app on his smartphone after the free trial period was over. The report also mentioned how Toyota charges $8 per month for the remote start option, while BMW owners have to pay $20 per month to be able to use the car's enhanced cruise control features.



Alix Partners - a global consulting firm, recently found that 60% of customers are willing to subscribe for enhanced safety and convenience features, as long as they don't feel like they are being charged for something they've already paid for. Mark Wakefield, CEO of Alix Partners, stated, "The car has to be cheaper, plus this option of subscribing."

Reports state that GM's projections claim that by 2030, subscription fees alone would bring in as much as $25 billion a year.

Source: CBSNews

Link to Team-BHP news

[abirnale]

And this was brought up long ago

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-features.html (Mahindra disables offline maps | Wants car owners to switch to subscription-based features)

[14000rpm]

Well, after a point of time, we will all find it acceptable to buy Subscription Services like we buy OTT Subscriptions. Half the time we may not use it fully but we'll still buy it.
Sometimes to make sure we are able to use it when we need it, sometimes for peace of mind and sometimes for Fear of Missing out.

In my case, Range Rover provided free Subscription for a year which expires in Apr '24. After this, I will extend it to use the only 3 features I will continue to use -

• Climate Control
• Charging on/off when I'm charging in public charging stations
• Most importantly, as much as Finland is a safe country and cars are not stolen as much as in UK, I will still need to have Secure Tracker.

So I have accepted the ideology of Subscription Services.

[shankar.balan]

Well, many of us are quietly paying for lots of different subscriptions through our apple and android devices without even realizing it.

A few examples
Microsoft Office Software
Apple Music
iCloud Space
YouTube Premium, Google+ Cloud and all
OTT TV Channels
Kindle Unlimited
Online newspaper and Magazine subscriptions
BigBasket Prime or whatever it is called
Myntra Insider
Amazon Prime
Zomato Gold
Urban Company Gold

And so on and so forth.

The amounts are all relatively small so we don’t tend to feel the ‘pinch’ of these. And we are so used to the convenience of having all of these on demand as a permanently available option that we reach a stage where we think we cannot do without them and thus we feed our own vicious cycle.

Subscriptions are a very very lucrative, predictable, repeat business for the service providers and an excellent retention tool as well.

[rrsteer]

This is a view based on speaking to some chassis control engineers for a work project. The future of car looks like this - all electric, and lot of component will be by-wire (steering, brakes etc.) and active in nature (active suspension etc.) It is thought that future cars would be software defined. You will have a software defined chassis which will control all these different modules (steering, brakes, suspension etc.).

Now traditional Tier 1 suppliers like Bosch, ZF, Continental, Mobis and newer tech players like NVIDIA are leading the research on the development of these technologies - electromechanical and software focussed. The OEMs share of the value chain is expected to reduce,...but subscription based OTAs, will ensure that doesn't happen. What these by-wire and active technologies ensure is that OEMs (who hold the interface with the customer) can offer a vast number of customizations, upgrades etc. just like that over the inter-web, and thats where they expect to earn some really fat margins.

[SmartCat]

I'm skeptical. The examples given (eg: remote start/stop for $XX per month) seem to be terrible value for money deals. Eventually, paying customers will cancel subscription when they discover that the same "features" are available for free in newer models from other car manufacturers.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Well, many of us are quietly paying for lots of different subscriptions through our apple and android devices without even realizing it. A few examples: Microsoft Office Software

Let's take monthly Office 365 subscription as an example. When you pay Rs.5,000 per year, the value for money proposition is very clear - > MS Office + One Drive storage. In the software, no features are blanked out. You get 100% software functionality. The higher subscription slabs are only for those who need MS Office on multiple devices or higher storage.

But that does not seem to be the case with these car subscription services. Not many will continue to pay subscription charges for blanked out features that has already been fitted on a car, especially since frequency of usage of unlocked features is likely to be very low.

In this case, actually one time fee for unlocking a particular feature may work out to be more remunerative for car companies

[NT_GT]

Easy money
Just read recently about frequent flyer programs earning more than the core business of airlines in US of A. Also IR-Catering-TC earning much more from the online ticketing system than from catering and tourism.

[astro-wolf]

I for one, can't wait for Adrenox subscription in my XUV700 to expire. In 3 months of me owning the car, it has worked once in it's entirety.
I've just stopped even opening the app, because I know it's just going to show me some generic info and not going to do the intended work of warming up my engine and lubricating the turbo by the time I reach the car (remote start feature).
I've forgotten that Alexa even exist because it takes even longer to warm up than a diesel truck in snow.
In a way, I sometimes miss my 2016 make Grandi10 where I just used to sit, start the car, connect bluetooth for songs, wait for engine temp to go up a bit, turn the AC on and be on my merry way. In XUV, I connect Android Auto and it turns on wifi on my phone. Then my songs don't play because wifi never works and my phone try to connect to internet via just wifi. And I HATE it when my songs don't play and I try to play songs while driving.

I know that all these problems can be chalked upto bad sim in XUV. But it has made me wary of these types of softwares in car for which we'll have to pay, but the softwares have a single point of failure that fails frequently.

[Genie]

I went for top trim in Seltos for sake of safety related and other useful features, but I could do without other paraphernalia which I don’t find utility for. On expiry of the UVO, I chose not to renew the subscription as I rarely used any of its current feature set in the first 3 years of ownership.
But in future there is going to be so much connected tech that manufacturers would use to provide customisations etc., but also use this opportunity to make it a norm to provide basic options required for a normal daily usage of the vehicle. In which case we would be left with no option but to subscribe.
Having said that, once widely used it could be so affordable that it's no longer a pinch. Future regulations also could drive this change where it might be required to tag every vehicle. Note that we become another data point just like we are today with our mobiles. No escaping the Web.

[Abhi99]

Subscription is new nuisance, with more and more connected products - corporates are going in hyper drive to snatch the every last penny from the consumer - in the name of new revenue streams.

I had a strong resolve to not renew the subscription of the Toyota App, after it expired after a year of buying my truck. I did adhere to it for a few months - but now with winters setting in - I have no option but to subscribe it for atleast next 6 months or spend 10 precious mins every morning to run the motor and wait in the car. I am sure it sounds like a rant - but how do we counter this madness ?

I understand if there are any value added features, which manufacturers too have to pay for to maintain and upgrade ( like Audio streaming, concierge service or even navigation maps) - but the basic features shouldn't be behind the paywall. Car prices anyways have exploded in the last few years and I see no justification for this new antic. *End of rant*

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by Abhi99

but now with winters setting in - I have no option but to subscribe it for atleast next 6 months or spend 10 precious mins every morning to run the motor and wait in the car.

If this is the only use case, there is a Webasto solution.
https://www.webasto.com/en-int/heati...moconnect.html

[Abhi99]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

If this is the only use case, there is a Webasto solution.
https://www.webasto.com/en-int/heati...moconnect.html

Thanks for sharing, but consumer shouldn't have to go aftermarket route, for basic functionality. While I am annoyed with Toyota, I would still prefer paying them $48 (for 6 months), per year and use OEM product instead of risking the warranty. As a consumer, I find myself between a rock and a hard place and feel annoyed that I am being arm twisted for something so basic.

Overall, its a disturbing trend and hopefully wont go too far. Else this will definitely be a factor that would influence buying decision.