You buy a car for a million and you expect it’s yours. All of it. That old-school idea that once you've paid for the wheels and the steering wheel, no one's going to send you an invoice just because you want to warm up in the winter. Today, that's a super
In recent years, car manufacturers have drawn inspiration from the world of apps, streaming services, and gaming DLCs. They've started doing something that would have sounded like a bad joke just a few years ago: selling you a car ready for a feature that will only be unlocked once you pay a monthly fee.
And it’s not just luxury quirks. "Car as a Service" is expanding across the market by 2026 and has several layers. Sometimes you pay for digital features and connectivity, sometimes for assistants and software (like automated driving), and in some cases, even what used to be considered "normal ownership"—the operation of the car itself—has moved to a subscription model. And yes, Europe is in on it too.
How Cars Became Phones on Wheels
From the brands' perspective, it makes total sense. Car production is expensive, margins are under pressure, and competition (especially from China) is driving prices down. A subscription is like a beautiful dream for any finance department: stable monthly income that can be scaled, and mainly, it can be charged long after you’ve driven the car out of the showroom. That’s why today, car makers are building cars as "ready hardware" and the rest is handled with software that you can gradually unlock. And this goes way beyond just electric vehicles.
Mercedes talks about it through their Digital Extras. These are digital add-ons that you activate and manage through an account and app. You basically buy "extra features" based on how you feel like living at the moment. Prices range from a modest 500 crowns monthly to 12,000 crowns for lifetime features like navigation.
BMW does it similarly through ConnectedDrive Upgrades and their store where you can purchase different features after buying the car. Since 2025, they’ve switched to a new service package (Connected Package Professional), and prices, like with Mercedes, depend on the equipment and duration. It’s no problem to end up paying around 30,000 crowns for lifetime use of Parking Assistant Pro.
Tesla is a story of its own, as the "car as software" philosophy has been foundational for the brand for a while. But now it’s gone full-on Netflix, with their Full Self-Driving (FSD) switching to a subscription-only model from February 14 this year, costing around 2,500 crowns a month. Without the subscription, you’re out of luck.
Heated Seats as DLC
If there’s one example that turned car subscriptions into a global meme, it’s BMW and heated seats. Not because BMW was the first to monetize comfort, but because of how absurd it seemed: the hardware is already installed in the car but won’t work until you pay. It’s like having all the content in a video game already and only “unlocking” it after buying the DLC.
BMW eventually backed down on the heated seats, admitting that activating already-installed features for a fee was too toxic even for people used to paying for anything that lights up blue. You only needed a quick browse online to see how negatively users received it.
Brands learned from this: straight-up annoyances are reputationally painful. So now they often disguise it as service packages, connectivity, assistants, cloud services, remote control, or "performance enhancements." But the result is the same: your car gradually turns into a platform.
Why It’s Slower in Europe than the USA
Europe is unique. People traditionally care more about ownership here, regulations and consumer protection play a role, and chiefly: Europe cares about data. Modern cars are connected products. They collect data, send telemetry, use the cloud, and unlock functions through an app. That’s why the EU has launched the Data Act, effective from September 12, 2025, aiming to set fair rules for accessing data from connected devices (including cars) and user control over what happens to the data.
Simultaneously, the EU is working on legislation for data access from vehicles because car manufacturers often keep it "to themselves," while the independent market (repair shops, insurance, services) wants fairer access.
And here’s the kicker: when data and features are part of a subscription, it’s not just about "how much does it cost," but also "what exactly am I paying for and what do I lose if I stop."
What Does This Mean for the Czech Republic?
In Europe (and thus in the Czech Republic), it typically manifests like this: you buy a new Mercedes or BMW, you get a free period with some digital features active, and after a few years, you’ll get prompted to extend the services. Mercedes sets it up as adding digital extras, while BMW does it as a store with upgradeable equipment.
Volvo mentions in their terms that digital and remote services are typically part of a new car for three to five years, after which subscriptions are handled.
This is the most likely European path: they won’t lock your heated seats tomorrow, but they will gradually monetize connectivity, navigation, remote control, safety features, assistants, or "extra comfort." What’s a pleasant standard today slowly shifts into a "maintenance fee."
Where’s the Line and Why You Can’t Change It
Subscriptions in themselves aren’t evil. Sometimes they make sense. Like when it comes to cloud services, map updates, real-time traffic data, remote functions, security monitoring, or improving assistants. You’re paying for it to run, be managed, updated, and fixed.
The problem starts when you’re paying for something that’s physically in the car, costs nothing extra, and the only barrier is a paywall. BMW with heated seats was precisely the moment people realized where the line between a surcharge and boldness lies.
Car companies went for it for one reason: money. And they’re not going back because, for them, subscriptions mean what traditional car sales can’t provide: stable cash flow even after purchase. Europe will regulate it through data rules, but the direction is clear: the car becomes a platform. And platforms simply aren’t sold once. Platforms get billed continuously.
Today, if you’re choosing a new car, the biggest difference between brands often isn’t the engine or design, but how long you can keep driving if you ever miss a monthly payment.
