BMW heated seat subscription service ending overseas, Australian plans unclear

German car giant BMW has announced it will stop charging customers a separate subscription fee to use their vehicle’s heated seats in Europe following a buyer backlash, however it remains to be seen whether the controversial charge will be dropped in Australia.

In July 2022, BMW announced it would begin offering heated seats and in-built dash cams as an extra cost option via a monthly or annual subscription in certain overseas markets. 

The controversial program arrived in Australia with the local debut of the new-generation X1 SUV in late October 2022, and has so far remained exclusive to the small SUV’s entry-level sDrive18i variant – higher grades have the feature unlocked, free to use as standard.

While the BMW X1 is fitted at the factory with the hardware for its heated seats to operate, owners must pay a subscription fee for the function to work – ranging from $29 for one month, $289 for one year, $419 for three years or $589 for the vehicle’s lifetime.

However, UK publication Autocar was told by BMW’s board member for marketing and sales, Pieter Nota, that the German car-maker will stop offering heated seats as a subscription service – at least in Europe – due to the low customer uptake.

“What we don’t do any more – and that is a very well-known example – is offer seat heating by this way. It’s either in or out. We offer it by the factory and you either have it or you don’t have it,” Mr Nota told Autocar. 

“We thought that we would provide an extra service to the customer by offering the chance to activate that later, but the user acceptance isn’t that high. 

“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.”

BMW Australia is yet to officially comment on its plans for the heated seat subscription service locally, though dealers canvassed by Drive have said they are not aware of any changes – with the controversial program remaining for the time being.

Mr Nota also told Autocar BMW is planning to add more driving and convenience-based functions to its line-up of subscription services overseas.

“We actually are now focusing with those ‘functions on demand’ on software and service-related products, like driving assistance and parking assistance, which you can add later after purchasing the car, or for certain functions that require data transmission that customers are used to paying for in other areas,” Mr Nota said.

“What we find is software-based services, like downloading a parking assist product, is very well accepted. 

“People know it’s a certain piece of software they can download that costs money. It’s the same as downloading a film or an extra feature on an app. That is accepted and we do that increasingly successfully.”