- The company is considering adding new features to older cars through software upgrades.
- Hyundai recently combined its Mocean car subscription service with its Bluelink connected services system.
- Fortunately, Hyundai doesn’t seem interested in making heated seats available as a software upgrade.
Hyundai could follow the lead of carmakers like BMW in offering certain features through a subscription service, according to the boss of Hyundai’s new Connected Mobility division.
To gear up for a new age of subscriptions, Hyundai has combined its Mocean car subscription service with its Bluelink connected services system under a new roof dubbed Hyundai Connected Mobility. Marcus Welz says the formation of this new division will allow it to introduce new digital services, like features-on-demand, in-car payments, and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) applications.
Read: Hyundai Will Also Build Hybrids At Its Georgia EV Factory
Speaking with Autocar, Welz said Hyundai wants to do more than sell cars and aims to get closer to its customers after selling them a vehicle. One way it’ll do this is through flexible subscriptions like the Bluelink services. For example, new models will include the Lite version of Bluelink for free for the first 10 years while those willing to pay €2.99 ($3.20) a month will gain access to a Plus version with more comprehensive remote services. Hyundai will also sell a €9.99/month ($10.70) Pro plan that adds services including in-car payments and partner offers.
BMW is one of the most notable examples of a carmaker selling subscriptions to certain vehicle functions. In 2022, it caused much controversy when it started selling heated seat subscriptions for vehicles already fitted with the hardware for seat heating. Asked if Hyundai will do the same, Welz said he’s more interested in bringing “new features into older cars.”
“What you have often seen in the industry is an old use case, for example, heated seats,” he said. “This was brought to the customer using new technology such as software updates. However, I think the benefit of feature-on-demand is exactly the opposite: to bring new features into older cars.”
Welz indicated Hyundai could sell software upgrades for existing components like an EV’s battery, motors, cameras, and sensors.
“A lot of advancements can actually be done through the software, so you can utilize the existing hardware,” he said. “We will keep developing these features and functionality and then we will provide them to users.”
