Buying a car today can be a whole box of surprises. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes, as recently happened to a Honda Passport owner, for the worse. And just as has shared user on Reddit, the function to open your garage that previously came as standard, has become an option included in a subscription package offered by the firm.
The story has some nuances that are worth mentioning, but the reality is that this example has become another reflection of something that has been happening for years in the automobile industry: manufacturers are determined to turn your vehicles into recurring revenue platformsand software is your main tool to achieve this.
From opening the garage with a little button in the car, to doing it from an app
The Honda Passport in question has removed the rearview mirror with integrated Homelink, the system that allows the car to be synchronized with the garage receiver via radio. In your place now offers the function as standard through the MyQ applicationintegrated into HondaLink. For it to work, the user needs an internet connection in the car, Apple CarPlay or Android Autoand you must also install a MyQ receiver connected to the home Wi-Fi at home.
The result is a system that provides more technical complexity to do something that was previously solved with a small radio control attached to the visor.
Sling confirmed According to CarBuzz, customers receive a free 30-day trial period, after which they must contract a three- or five-year subscription. If they don’t, the feature is still accessible through the standalone MyQ app, and Honda also sells a rearview mirror with Homelink as an additional accessory for around $170. That is to say: What used to come as standard now has to be paid separately.
The main advantage of the new system (being able to check if you have left the garage open from anywhere with a connection) makes some practical sense. But the price of the subscription, between $129 and $179 for three or five years, plus the possible connectivity costs of the vehicle itself, turns something so simple into a payment chain that is difficult to justify.
BMW and heated seats: the case that started it all
To understand where we are today with the issue of subscription services in vehicles, it is worth remembering the most talked about episode in recent years. In 2022, BMW began to offer in some markets (South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, among others) the possibility of activate seat heating through a monthly subscription about 18 dollars a month. The problem here is that the hardware is already installed in the car from the factory, and it is the owners who had to pay a monthly subscription to unlock this feature.
Both the press and the users attacked them so much that they had to back away. In September 2023, BMW Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Pieter Nota will confirmed to Autocar the end of that practice: “What we no longer do, and it is a well-known example, is to offer seat heating in this way. Either it comes from the factory or it doesn’t.”
But BMW did not abandon the subscription model, but rather reoriented it. The brand confirmed that it would continue to expand the services and functions it offers through subscriptions, but that it will stop charging for hardware functions already installed in the vehicle. After the move, the firm continued with its plans to add subscription services, but this time only in its software, such as driving or parking assistance systems. Through your ConnectedDrive platformoffers functions such as adaptive suspension, high beam assistant, adaptive cruise control or even welcome animations with the lights, through subscription.
Mercedes: up to 80 horses per subscription
BMW’s example ended up spreading to many other firms. Mercedes-Benz launched its “Acceleration Increase On-Demand” function in 2023 for the electric EQE and EQS models: for $60 per month or $600 per year in the case of the EQE, or $90 per month and $900 per year in the EQS, owners could unlock between 60 and 80 additional horsepower and cut the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h by up to one second. They also added a single payment option for life, which is around 2,000 or 3,000 euros, depending on the model.
Mercedes’ logic with which it tried to distance itself from BMW’s case was that standard hardwired functions, such as seat heating, would not be offered as “digital extras”, leaving subscriptions for software upgrades. However, the principle is the same– The car has the necessary hardware, but the feature is blocked until the user pays.
Mercedes-Benz aimed reach 2,000 million euros of revenue from software subscriptions in 2025, with plans to reach between 7,000 and 9,000 million euros before 2030. This growth would be driven above all by its own operating system (MB.OS) and its autonomous driving system.
If we think about it coldly, electric cars usually have lower maintenance costs than combustion cars, which reduces the income of dealers and the brands themselves. Software subscriptions are presented as a way to compensate for that loss.
Tesla, GM and Ford: the model that already works
Tesla has been the benchmark for this model for years, and in its case the discussion has important nuances. Your system Full Self-Driving Supervised (supervised autonomous driving) could be purchased for about $8,000 as a one-time payment or as a monthly subscription. And we tell it in the past tense because earlier this year, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla would offer this mode only as a subscription service and not as a one-time payment. The good news is that those who had paid to get the lifetime feature will continue to have this feature. The subscription option costs about $99 per month.
Perhaps the main difference here with BMW or Mercedes is that Tesla updates its software continuously with new capacities, which gives greater meaning to the recurring fee model.
In the case of General Motors, it has found a lucrative source of income in Super Cruise (its hands-free highway driving system). The company exceeded 625,000 active users at the end of 2025 and exceeded $200 million in annual revenue from the system, with a network of more than 1,207,000 km of North American roads on which it can be used. CEO Mary Barra has set a goal of reaching $2 billion in annual revenue from Super Cruise within the next five years. The current price of the service is $39.99 per month.
Ford also has its version with BlueCruise, charging about $49 per month to each owner. The annual fee is about $495. Additionally, the company also offers a lifetime one-time payment option for $2,495.
Where do we set the limit?
We are usually reluctant to pay monthly fees for convenience features. With so many subscription services, consumers have an accumulated fatigue for all the services that many of us end up hiring every month. Although the numbers demonstrate that things change when it comes to automation and safety systems in the car, and there brands are seizing the opportunity. The key is to offer a free trial period.
The difference between one case or another usually lies in the perception of real added value. Paying for software that is updated, that requires server infrastructure and that improves over time has a certain logic, something similar to when we pay for a subscription for a streaming service. Instead, paying to unlock more power that the engine already has, or to open the garage with an app when before a radio transmitter was enough, generates rejection because the user perceives that they are paying twice for the same thing.
According to S&P Global Mobilityvehicles that define their business through software are transforming the economics of manufacturers, offering them high margins through connected services, driver assistance features and upgrades sold through subscriptions. Although there are no guarantees that the user will always pay for it, brands that have clear strategies for their services and are capable of sustaining rapid innovation will work.
The global automotive software market, valued at around $19.8 billion at the moment, could reach 62.8 billion in 2036 according to the latest projections, all of this largely due to the proliferation of vehicles defined by their software and the business model of constant updates throughout the car’s life cycle.
Cover image | Sling
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