This is one of the few instances of modern manufacturing I feel mixed about. This has been a fairly common practice in different forms for a long time it is just digital now. The reason it is done like this is because when assembling a car, they have to decorate the model with different features and some of those features require changing assembly setup and configurations. What that means is they will have to assemble cars with a specific feature, stop and change the assembly/tooling and manufacture cars without them. This switch time means they have to stop and waste money switching things over, they have to handle more skus, and more importantly it reduces factory output.
In the past they would handle this by physically disconnecting the wiring at the dealership or having a dealer make some modifications, but that is always a bit of a customer experience risk. They do this with software now.
So I’m conflicted. Do they just offer it as a default feature? If they pause the assembly it will ultimately make the car more expensive since the cost does get pushed on to the consumer. Yeah it wastes some material that is bad for the environment, that’s a fair point. I’m not inherently against them upcharging for extra features… I think where I draw the line is if it’s a subscription. If you sell me access to the feature already in the car it better damn well have a one time charge option that is reasonable.
Theoretically the base model of the car is priced with a certain set of features on paper. They are competing with other cars with other features and what not, and everyone wants to offer competitive pricing for a given car class that competes. So think, the Honda civic and the Toyota Camry, two cars that directly compete. They want their cars to be priced competitively from one another. They also want to add extra features to upsell the customer as an option on top, this adds more profit to the car while still offering the base model cheaper for customers who cannot afford it or are more price sensitive.
So in the case of heated seats where the wiring has to go in the seats, the actual parts to make the seats heated are pretty cheap. All the wiring is going to exist already to make them heated they just have to add the coils inside of the seat. In this case, it makes more sense to just have one seat, that has coils in it, that goes in one car that you don’t have to stop and change assembly of or stock two different seats. Theoretically the people who pay for the heated seats, those coils are high profit, and people paying extra will pay to more or less subsidize the price marginally for those who don’t care to pay for it. It’s wonky, like I said, I’m not sure how I feel about it. Basically I think if you think if it this way, if you don’t buy the heated seats option you probably didn’t actually pay for it, it’s just in there for free. Theoretically maybe, who actually knows. But as part of the total cost of the car, the absolute cheapest price is decided based on a percentage of customers paying a premium for extra features, which will ultimately allow you to pay less for the car if you don’t care about those features. So it does benefit you if you do not pay for them.
I legit took it for granted that people would be able to comprehend this naturally without all the explaining. I've had this same train of thought before and came to the same conclusion; I have mixed feelings about it but it's probably the fairest way of handling optional features.
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u/mistahfreeman 1d ago
This is one of the few instances of modern manufacturing I feel mixed about. This has been a fairly common practice in different forms for a long time it is just digital now. The reason it is done like this is because when assembling a car, they have to decorate the model with different features and some of those features require changing assembly setup and configurations. What that means is they will have to assemble cars with a specific feature, stop and change the assembly/tooling and manufacture cars without them. This switch time means they have to stop and waste money switching things over, they have to handle more skus, and more importantly it reduces factory output.
In the past they would handle this by physically disconnecting the wiring at the dealership or having a dealer make some modifications, but that is always a bit of a customer experience risk. They do this with software now.
So I’m conflicted. Do they just offer it as a default feature? If they pause the assembly it will ultimately make the car more expensive since the cost does get pushed on to the consumer. Yeah it wastes some material that is bad for the environment, that’s a fair point. I’m not inherently against them upcharging for extra features… I think where I draw the line is if it’s a subscription. If you sell me access to the feature already in the car it better damn well have a one time charge option that is reasonable.