Linus freaking called it
BMW is planning to start offering paid subscriptions for features in their cars.
"The important takeaway here is that over-the-air updates and features will play a big role in BMW ownership, but more importantly, that users will have to pay for features already installed in their cars, such as heated seats, infotainment features, etc."
Looks like cars as a subscription is way closer than anyone previously could have imagined. I bet they don't even drop prices in their cars either considering a base model 3 series starts a around $41000 US and a fully kitted out, non M, comes in at around 54-55k... I figure the lack of having to pay for upgrades up front would make them cheaper because of the subscription fee but I still wouldn't be surprised to see the price right around the 49-51k mark which is pretty ridiculous if you're not interested in paying for all that extra crap.
Source:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/34547/bmw-is-planning-to-sell-heated-seats-and-more-as-a-subscription-no-really