But they do cost extra to add. Heating coils and controllers aren't free. Doing it this way has real benefits. 1. Lower total cost of manufacturing (which shou

But they do cost extra to add. Heating coils and controllers aren't free. Doing it this way has real benefits. 1. Lower total cost of manufacturing (which should be passed on to consumers as lower purchase price). 2. The cost of this hardware is only paid for those who value it. 3. You can add these features later (maybe your budget is tight when you bought the car but want to add it later). I am definitely not a fan of the subscription model for hardware features, but I think that locking features to the customers paying for it is a logical way to make these features available for less cost. If the unlock is one-time and reliable (doesn't rely on some external service to validate your subscription) then I don't have a fundamental problem with it. I don't think providing a cheaper model is "punish[ing] them for paying less". It is making the car accessible to a wider audience. If the cheapest model included heated seats, self driving and more then they base price would be higher and the car would be less accessible.