Nothing says late-stage capitalism like making customers pay rent for something they already bought. Since 2020, the devious German automaker has forced customers to pay a monthly "activation fee" just to use the seat warmers in cars they had already purchased. But after a frosty reception from disgruntled drivers, BMW pressed the ejector seat on this conniving cash grab.
"People feel that they paid double – which was actually not true, but perception is reality, I always say. So that was the reason we stopped that," claimed Pieter Nota, BMW's director of sales and marketing, when interviewed by Autocar.
While abandoning the unpopular seat warmer scheme, the company will continue to extort fees for so-called "software-based services." As Nota slyly admitted, "What we find is software-based services, like downloading a parking assist product, are very well accepted."
