Extra extra read all about it....

[outrun]

I don’t expect to win, but through my busienss I buy a lot of Jaguars (£1.3m in last 24months) so it will be their loss.

Not your average Jaguars though Sam. Perhaps you'll need to susbcribe to a chilled load area to stop the merchandise from going bad too fast...

 

[gb-gta]

It’s the way of the world now. Buy everything buy the week or month, so much more money for big buisness, tapping into the must have everything NOW mentality. ‘It’s only£x per month, that’s no problem!’
Feeling peckish, but don’t get paid until Friday?

 

[spkennyuk]

I think you are right, apart from the stock part. In a just in time production environment each seat will be made to order and delivered to the factory by a supplier within a very short time frame of being fitted to a car. This keeps working capital to a minimum, shortens the time between taking delivery and realising the revenue and down streams storage costs to the suppliers.

To my mind there will be a unit cost increase per vehicle, extra wires, heating pads etc. But a reduction in configurator development costs and reduction is the number of SKUs reducing ordering errors and therefore reworks. I expect it will still be cost negative (I.e. more expensive) but this will be made up for from the upgrade or subscription cost.

The clever part for me is the subscription model. They say you can buy and keep the upgrade for say £150, but you can subscribe for £15 a month. People will think “I won’t use them, except for in the winter” so will subscribe instead of buy, then forget to cancel and end up paying £180 for 1 year.

I mean, how many people subscribed to Netflix and then didn’t use it after the initial period then cancel a year later £120 out of pocket?

On the subject just in time production. Pre covid and the 15 years approx before that the world moved to just in time production and delivery avoiding the need for large warehouse as the goods were effectively stored in transit / mobile warehouse for sea shipments.

Fast forward to the covid era and the wheels fell off that plan. Airfreight grounded for months, sea freight back logs due to air options not available. Which lead to shortages of various products and 5 x plus the shipping costs for seafreight. The knock on effects being inflation running riot.

I cant see many people actually buying a car much past the next 5 years. It will be more akin to having a mobile phone contract. You pick your car/ phone. X amount upfront. X miles / x data , x add ons / services then trade in in 2/3 years against the latest i-car / samsung x 2024. The only difference i see is cars will be over 4/5 years instead of 2 to 3.

Anyone on lower incomes will have to settle for either a lower spec model or a refurbed older model

I hope i am wrong but i cant really see it going any other way

 

[philw696]

Having worked for a few manufacturers and in many distribution centers on brand new cars you would be shocked at some of what I have seen and even been involved in.
Just in time what a pain in the backside but I grew to like it as it often guaranteed a few paid days off chilling in the hotel.
Guaranteed there would be an issue every job.
Cheaper to pay us for the time than send us home to then get us back.
Interiors being stripped out and cut off with Stanley knifes to be retrimmed with what the customer ordered and you would never know.
As bad as burning £50 notes in front of homeless people in my book really.

 

[MarkMas]

I wonder if this could be used for sanctions in Russia... turn off all their heated seats and steering wheels.

Ukrainian John Deere tractors stolen by Russia 'bricked'

If true, a good use for DRM?

www.theregister.com

 

[MarkMas]

Hardly anyone buys a new car , most are on pcp,pch,lease

I see this as streamlining the production line , one seat manufactured in different colours , so rather than the old days where you ticked the options box and the price went up which creates an admin cost, then the seat manufacturer adds a cost , there's more storage as you need different seats in stock.

This way if owner one doesn't want heated seats they don't pay but if owner two does its a phone call and £15 a month over the lease cost, it's just a digital options box.

I am just about to have a fight (which I will lose of course) with Jaguar. My XJ is just coming up to 3 years old and I have had two notifications so far, one about a subscription to keep some feataures on the remote access App “live” and one for the day nav live traffic, Both features sold with the car - I had no idea there was a subscription in the back ground (I bought it used). It’s such a con………

It feels wrong to have to pay a subscription to have already-installed hardware enabled (especially if you thought you had already paid for it), but, yes, it makes the production line more efficient and allows people to buy at different price-points.

My experience of pricing is if you bundle everything in for single price, people say "But you are making me pay for things I don't want!" and if you have lots of separately-chargeable options, people say "But, you are just gouging me with extra charges for things I must have!"

 

[midlifecrisis]

It's not very 'green' though. You have all this extra equipment in your car which is just extra weight as it's been electronically disabled.

And the second hand value will be affected too.
Seller: 'Yeah it's got everything on it, fully loaded, electric everything'
Buyer 'Great but is it enabled '
Seller 'Errr'

 

[mowlas]

I’d definitely pay £15 (or more) per month to have the beaver teeth retract from the front grille area.

 

[Wack61]

Preying is one word I guess. They would say that they are giving people a choice on how to consume. If you are organised you save, if not you pay. Much like the Netflix example. Before, if you wanted to watch a film, you’d buy a DVD. Now you subscribe, no option for a one off purchase, and an initially lower cost. There is only one way that model is more profitable, the dormant but paying accounts.

Though if you go to Netflix with a particular film in mind chances are you're going to be very disappointed

 

[safrane]

It is also another way for the manufacture to profit from items they sold years ago.

A car with c£20k worth of extras is not worth £20k more at resale, and BMW get nothing more down the line... under this scheme the car becomes the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Devonboy]

Are they going to maintain this leasing model for seats when the car is 15 years old?

 

[CatmanV2]

Are they going to maintain this leasing model for seats when the car is 15 years old?

From a technical POV the odds of maintaining the code base required is pretty much nil. Interesting shout

C

 

[HenrysDad]

Pretty soon no-one will buy a new car at all, think of the rise of PCP. They will all be rented. All systems will be optional and paid for. "Would sir like us to enable the braking system sir? Very useful in traffic sir."