Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) BMW April 1st

Unbelievable ...

Sheer Greed! Does this mean that all models will have heated seats which must cost more overall to spec but only be used by a few.
So much for "The ultimate Driving Machine" If true they have defo gone down in my estimation.

Obviously cheaper to build cars with all options so just the one set of components required. This justifies the case some years ago for having to pay extra for wind down windows. This latest is a whole new level though. It will be interesting to see how the legalities of this approach pan out.

All part of the business strategy of moving cars from the realms of being products which are owned to being services which are subscribed to.

Capitalism's greatest trick. If you can get people away from owning stuff and instead make them rent stuff, you achieve two things - you secure a steady income stream, and also ensure that workers are locked in to needing a job and therefore likely to be compliant. If the workers have to find x amount of money every month to pay for all their subscription services then they aren't going to be in a position to tell their bosses to get lost.

In this day and age, buying a car outright and then doing your own maintenance work on it to keep it going beyond its intended life span becomes a revolutionary act.

If they are finding it cheaper thru economies of scale to fit all cars with the optional extra's and its merely payment of a one off or monthly rental fee that initiates them either pre or post purchase, then its absolutely fine...its an advance in standardisation of manufacturing platform.

I thought it was the preserve of the communism that private ownership was not tolerated and the state/collective owned everything, so its a capitalist ploy as well? Goodness the similarities never cease to amaze me...........even people needing to work to live under both systems! With one slight difference may I venture under capitalism you can choose what options you want to pay for, under Communism only your position within the collective will determine your entitlement/right of access to the options list and what options you may or may not have.

If everything is on the car already for economy of production, why don't they just include it in the main price rather than charge extra for it?

As with so much, we find the ideologies of far right and far left (especially in their authoritarian modes) are remarkably similar. Unfettered capitalism is as bad for most people as totalitarian communism. Which is probably why most people prefer centrist governments.

Establlishment/preservation of an additional income stream.

Big Corporation: "Want your car to carry on working? Pay us money every month"

Gangster: "Want your house/shop/business not to mysteriously burn down? Pay us money every month"

Many people no longer purchase outright their vehicles they in effect rent them for a given term then hand them back. So no real difference to renting the option, assuming there is some flexibility people might eg stop payment when you no-longer need the option eg rarely used heated seats in summer! I don't think the critical functioning of the car is at risk eg paying a fee for the engine to operate each month, mind you that may have advantages if the car is laid up over winter!

It's a fair point and to some degree we see far more standardisation to wider degree of options in the base modesl eg air conditioning is almost standard in most base models these days. Where even in up market brands like Mercedes it was an optional extra upto about 20 years ago. I remember my first Mercedes in 1993 I paid to have the option of speakers, aerial and stereo put in the car, when it was pretty much standard in other brands such as Ford , Vauxhall............go figure, some marketing guy thought the customer having the right to choose what stereo equipment they wanted in their Mercedes was an expensive option they could afford and therefore put no equipment in as standard. Same as heaters used to be an optional choice in many UK cars, staggers belief today.

Problem is that the higher the standard spec the greater the base model price becomes making them increasingly less affordable, removing the option of low cost motoring for many.