Hyundai plans subscription payments for optional extras

[TWPC]

Hyundai appears to be considering following the likes of BMW with a plan to charge car owners monthly fees for optional extras. I.e. You buy a car which has goodies like heated seats or adaptive headlights fitted but do not pay for those extras when you initially buy the car. If you decide you would like to use them you pay Hyundai a monthly fee.

It may suit some customers and is a way for the car company to generate more cash flow from their existing customers post-purchase (like Bluelink subs) in addition to servicing and maintenance. But... your car ends up carrying around some hardware and software that may be of no use to the current or future owner. If that superfluous kit malfunctions when you aren't using it, who pays for the repairs?

The Hyundai news is discussed in Autocar here: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/tech ... ated-seats
The Hyundai press release is here: https://www.hyundai.news/eu/articles/pr ... tions.html 'Features on Demand' is the subscription model.

Matt Prior at Autocar wrote an amusing rant about his hate for this practice and suggested that logically, if owners have to pay to use these features, the car manufacturer should pay owners for unused features that they did not order which they then have to lug around: https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/new-c ... nsive-ones

What do you think about this?

[pharaoh]

What do you think about this?

As someone who likes to buy and own my cars and other belongings outright, this is an awful idea. I hate the idea of owing anybody anything, mortgages notwithstanding.
I agree with Matt Prior re them paying us for services we don't use.
It's a bad idea ecologically too, imagine the resources used by fitting components in a car that will never get used.
It just a money grabbing exercise to make Hyundai (and others) richer. Shame they don't invest more time and money on improving customer care.

[Deleted User 1326]

What do you think about this?

Ask me again in 2028 as I shall have my current car until then, (barring death or disaster!)

When that time comes, if I’m still around, I may not wish to continue driving or my doctor might decide for me. Should I be ok to continue driving, I certainly won’t be paying £40K-£50K to drive something that will certainly outlast me! My kids, who are approaching retirement age, won’t want my current car as it doesn’t have a German badge and isn’t electric.

[PhilHornby]

So I wonder what the situation would be, if you managed to turn features on by other means ...

In the case of something like heated seats - you could add a simple switched power supply to them, but I'm actually thinking more about a new market for 3rd party tools to enable things

Would it be considered 'theft of services', like a dodgy Amazon Fire TV stick , or is it your vehicle to do with as you please

[MikeSwift]

As a tight Yorkshireman it would certainly mean I would look for a car manufacturer that didn't do this.

Like Indalo my current contract expires in November 2028 so we shall see.

[DrElectron]

The problem with the BMW model (Audi and others have copied) is that the base price of the car hasn't changed to suit the subscription cost.
Top spec car was say £60k with all extras, now it's £60k + £75 per month. You're still paying the extra for all the parts.

Also, each option is a yearly commitment, so you can't even PAYG for extras like heated seats for a few months of the year.

The black market won't take long to unlock these features.