Quote:
Originally Posted by Coi
A lot will change. The cost for BMW will go up since they will be paying to put cruise control radars, heating coils, and cameras in every car. They'll have to make more money to cover this cost as well as make a profit. The money to cover the increased manufacturing cost will have to come from consumers. This could mean hundreds if not thousands more per car. It's simply impossible for either prices or ownership cost to not go up under the subscription model.
Yeah, people will readjust how used cars are appraised in that values will go down. Right now my X3 M40i with a bunch of options is worth more on the used market because when the next owner gets it they know they'll have adaptive cruise, heated seats, heated steering wheel, auto parking, heads-up display, premium sound system etc. Under the subscription model not only would I have paid for those features but my trade-in or resale value will be the same as a base model car with no options whatsoever. BMW is making more money by charging the next owner to unlock stuff already on the car and I'd be loosing out.
A loaded car that should be worth $50k with all the features enabled will now be priced as $45k base-model used car. Lower resale will also hurt lease residuals. That's money straight out of the pockets of people buying new BMWs and into the pockets of BMW corporate.
|
you're kidding yourself on how much these things cost
barely optioned toyotas and hondas already all come with these things standard. in 2019 i traded my daily driver, a 3 series, for a camry because for $28k i could get heated seats, radar cruise control, carplay, panoramic sunroof. whereas on a 3 series they nickel and dimed you to death to get any of the interesting features
there was a time that the premium brands gave you standard features you couldn't even get on an economy car. bizarrely, it's now the other way around with honda civics coming with more standard tech than a bmw twice the price. while the 3 series was objectively a better car than the camry i bought, there was not enough value add for me to justify literally double the price
it's even worse today. i needed an suv. for under $50k i got a highlander platinum with awd, radar cruise, lane centering, third row seating, heated/ventilated seats, hud, panoramic roof, heated second row, power tailgate, sun shades in the rear doors. it's crazy how hard it is to spec out a bmw with some of that