BMW owners will soon have to pay Ksh.2,100 ($18) per month to enjoy the heated seats option.
This is the latest example of the German automaker’s use of micro-transactions for premium automobile amenities, after the company gradually began putting functions behind subscriptions in 2020.
Under the new plan, car owners will part with $18 for heated front seats, with options to subscribe for Ksh. 21,000 a year ($180), Ksh.35,000 ($300) for three years, or pay Ksh.49,000 ($415) for “unlimited” access.
Although BMW did not respond to queries of when the subscriptions take effect, some motoring publications in North Korea noticed this week that heated seats and a heated steering wheel popped up as monthly subscriptions on the carmaker’s local site.
US technology website The Verge also spotted the features on the menu for BMW owners in South Africa, Germany and the UK, as well as New Zealand.
How this works is that BMW has put a software block on the heated seats’ functionality which owners will now have to pay to remove.
