The Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has joined the group of companies that are considering the possibility of demanding additional payment for the use of various car functions. As an example, we can cite seat heating, which could be available for an additional payment – “pay to use”.
“We are looking at introducing a ‘feature on demand’ system so that the car has more personalization options,” says Markus Welz, head of Hyundai Connected Mobility. This new department combines Hyundai Mocean (car subscription service) and Bluelink services.
Advertising
The aim is to restructure Bluelink services directly – this app allows remote control and management of various aspects of the machine, such as setting the desired temperature before departure and so on. The plan is to divide the system into three levels – “Lite” will be a free version for the first 10 years, which will allow the use of navigation and other online services in the car. But only in the car! To get access to remote services, you need to buy a “Plus” package for 3 euros per month, but for 10 euros per month you can get the “Pro” version, which will offer various “data-based services”, payments in the machine and other additional options.
Hyundai does not yet specify whether this will apply to cars that are already with customers and are being used, or only to cars that are yet to be purchased. Hyundai justifies this with efforts to “be closer to the customer even after the sale of the car”, but we all understand that this is a marketing text and nothing more – this is how the car manufacturer sees opportunities to earn extra.
Of course, they are not the first to think about this – the most glaring example was BMW’s attempt to offer seat heating for an additional fee, which was strongly condemned. Hyundai representatives say that they intend to offer new functions to older machines, for example by improving and optimizing the operation of existing systems with the help of software, but how exactly this will happen has not yet been specified.
