>It's less that it enables being cheap, and more that it is just an extra revenue stream that isn't visible at the time of purchase so consumers don't realize i

>It's less that it enables being cheap, and more that it is just an extra revenue stream that isn't visible at the time of purchase so consumers don't realize it's there and can unknowingly get locked in, but this is equally true for both $ and $$$ price levels. Absolutely. cf. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/business/bmw-subscription/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/business/bmw-subscription/ind... as just one example of dozens, if not hundreds.