Blames customer demand? That's insane, nobody wants this. They have to equip the car with the features anyway. This is all a money grab. BMW is backing away from subscriptions, Audi would be wise to not anger their customers.
Because nothing I want more on top of my $720 lease payment than to pay even more money for basic features that up until a 2yrs ago were included in the purchase price. Lighting on the e-tron isn't the only subscription. Navigation is now a subscription service. In vehicle navigation is $84.99/mo for the complete package of voice control, Google Earth, navigation. Navigation only is a one time payment of $1500, to say it isn't a profit center is a joke. I guess since we all keep accepting it, they'll keep doing it.
Subscription service is for those things which were not existed before but will be provided to the users either free or paid. Like youtube/netflix/Adobe photoshop etc.
But in cars the hardware is already present but is inaccessible to users and to use that hardware feature you need to pay for subscription.
Hence subscription is for software only and to do for hardware you need to provide the new hardware just like Apple's upgrade program which replaces the users iphone to the latest one.
The way car manufacturers are doing it is like to use the ultra wide camera on your iPhone you need to get a paid subscription service.
I would like them to cite an open poll of their customers where they were asked "do you want more on-demand features for additional subscription price"
Audi plans to amp up the number of "Functions on Demand" features in its vehicles in 2024. Despite backlash against these subscription models, Audi's technical boss claims that consumers want more paid software packages, and it's this demand driving the feature expansion, rather than profit motives.
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