The car industry keeps driving Big Tech to the bank

THE car industry’s problem is that it’s a terrible industry. For all the glamour and excitement associated with them, cars are low-margin goods bought infrequently by people without much loyalty.

This has led some car firms to grope at ways to emulate Silicon Valley and its money-printing success, such as asking customers to subscribe to their own cars’ features. In 2022, BMW toyed with asking owners to pay a monthly fee to use their cars’ seat heaters, before a backlash made management kill the idea.

Thankfully, this folly has failed to catch on. While people don’t mind paying for something new, they do mind paying again (and again) for something they already own. Would anyone buy a fridge that needed a subscription to make ice?