5 Comments

• 
  Karen - 5 years ago

  I have a BMW now and my husband and I choose the more exclusive/expensive cars for their upgraded features and dealer services. There are plenty of very nice vehicles at less expensive prices where I can easily add aftermarket Apple Car Play or Remote Start for a couple hundred dollars and not be a slave to the car dealerships. For my new 2020 vehicle, it looks like i'm choosing that route in direct response to the high end dealerships choice to separate out and charge extra for the conveniences that i expect with an expensive car. One doesn't spend a million plus dollars on a new home to have vinyl floors, plastic tubs and formica counters. There is an expectation of high end finishes for a high end price tag. Very disappointed. I'd rather pay someone more deserving to install services and maintain my car at this point.

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  Leon - 6 years ago

  I think they believe it's ok that we're out raged by using reasoning like: These are younger customers who think $300 is a lot of money. Once they mature they won't care as much.

  Wrong BMW. Strategic miscalculation. I don't care if it's $3, you've lost my respect because it's a slimy move, not because it hurts my pocket book.

  The problem is that tech is not just changing prices, it's changing the underlying economic model and value proposition of vehicles. Though we are not economists, just dumb customers, nevertheless we grew up in this new world of new value systems and understand it.

  For your own benefit, try letting a different exec make the final call on this. He/She doesn't have to be young (that's just one way to be in tune with this phenomenon), but let it be someone who is highly fluent and a daily heavy user of technology and the internet in many ways.

  Doing so may or may not result in a different decision. However I'd bet through the ensuing discussions you'd still gain valuable insights into the newer and future generation of customers of, potential, BMW loyalists.

  Understanding new trends and mindsets on the level of a philosophical change is very difficult. However, it's always been this way even before tech. Those who work hard and pivot well don't get left behind.

  This is not about a $300 option on a vehicle. This is about brand equity. Customers are watching to see if BMW will "get it", so they'll be able to feel comfortable that the next hundred decisions will be made with a real understanding of what they expect from the worlds greatest motor works companies over the 21st century.

  Assemble your MBA's and ask them to read the Blockbuster video case study they leaned about in school. Ironically, most customers realized what was happening before the company did.

• 
  Matt - 6 years ago

  I have a BMW with this 'feature' and it really does stick in the craw. In the UK, I had to pay to have it enabled as a feature (as it needed an additional antenna on the infotainment system) and yet the license (and therefore the functionality) will expire after 3 years.

  I knew this when i bought the car, and despite this penny pinching annoying me, the whole package when compared to other manufacturers won me over.

  Still don't like it though....

• 
  Jacqueline Cook - 6 years ago

  I have no problem paying a subscription fee to something that is providing value, such as like if I pay Spotify so much money a month, I can stream music without commercials.

  This concept of charging for carplay is NOT offering me a service, it is just charging me essentially a tax to use a feature already present on my smartphone. It is an incredible slap across the face and I'd quite possibly boycott a manufacturer that does it just out of principal as I wouldn't want to even give them money for the car itself if they would engage in such shady business practices (and I'd totally go aftermarket if it were an option).

• 
  Whisker Kenbrook - 6 years ago

  The phrase "Chicken Poop" comes to mind...maybe not that exact phrase but something close to it.

  This is just further example of automakers sucking big time at the exact thing Apple was trying to solve with Car Play.