Yesterday, the mothership at Stellantis announced a new two-tier system for app-connected services – and one of them has the grand price of $0.
It is open knowledge that consumers generally despise the concept of subscription services, which is to say paying extra each month to unlock features which are already installed on the car for which you’ve already paid. The internet all but revolted when it was even suggested that BMW might charge a monthly fee for gear like heated seats. The lofting of pitchforks ensued.
Stellantis seems to have picked up on this sentiment and is attempting to turn it into an advantage. Starting this month, buyers of vehicles from the Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and Fiat brands (but, oddly, not Chrysler or Alfa quite yet) can enjoy a full ten years of some app-based connected services. The so-called Connect One tier of service doubles the availability of vehicle health and service scheduling features from five to ten years and also extends remote lock/unlock access from three months to 10 years.
While it isn’t specifically called out, engine start commands are generally bundled in with the latter, meaning buyers of these rigs may benefit from a decade’s worth of remote start tools, assuming the model is equipped to handle such a feature. Woe betide the parts departments which used to make their month on the installation of remote starters on new car sales. As another bonus, ‘basic navigation’ is also apparently part of the Connect One deal.
The company will only be too happy to add a monthly fee, of course, in the form of a $17.99 bill to activate an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot along with the likes of stolen vehicle tracking and ‘connected navigation’ in addition to a few other items. Stellantis will include it for three months at no charge on certain new cars if activated within a month of taking delivery. Anyone popping for a used vehicle from one of these brands through a Stellantis dealer should also check on availability.
[Image: Stellantis]
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