BMW slashes price of satellite radio by 41 percent, others to follow?
BMW has substantially cut the price of its Sirius Satellite Radio factory option from $595 to $350 on select 2010 vehicles (excludes 5 Series, 6 Series and X3) while also adding functionality. Customers who choose Sirius will continue to receive "The Sirius Everything" package for one year, along with some of the most popular XM channels available including Oprah Radio, XM Public Radio and several sports channels.
Beyond cheaper hardware and expanded channels, BMW and Sirius have also made the satellite radio more user friendly. Users can now view the channel list as a channel name, artist and a new "Instant Replay" function allows you to replay a favorite song or program. You can also choose favorite songs and receive an alert when one of your favorites is being played, which is one of those good ideas somebody should have thought of long ago.
Anyone who has ever priced out a Bimmer knows that options can be a pricey endeavor, so lower satellite radio prices is sure to be welcome news to BMW buyers. We're wondering if other automakers will soon follow suit and also drop the price of their satellite hardware. Subscriptions to the now combined Sirius/XM service aren't exactly flying off the shelves, and a lower cost of entry to the hardware in cars can only help.
[Source: BMW]
PRESS RELEASE:
Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey – November 2, 2009... BMW announced today that its SIRIUS satellite radio factory option has been enhanced with an expanded channel line-up and a price reduction for 2010 model BMW cars and Sports Activity Vehicles™ in the United States (excludes 5 Series, 6 Series, and X3). When ordering the SIRIUS option from the factory, the price has been reduced from $595 to $350, and continues to include a pre-paid one-year subscription to "The SIRIUS Everything" package.
The SIRIUS option will now include "The Best of XM" package, featuring popular XM channels including Oprah Radio , MLB Home Plate, NBA and NHL games, The PGA TOUR Network and XM Public Radio.
Additional features have been added to enhance the user experience and can be accessed via BMW's 4th-generation iDrive interface:
* The channel list may now be displayed as channel name, artist and song title.
* Artist and song title listings give listeners a "sneak-peek" to what is currently being played on the channel line-up.
* Channel surfing is now made easier by the provision of Direct Channel Input.
* Instant Replay allows users to time shift / replay a favorite song or program.
* Favorite Alert will notify users when a favorite artist, song, or game is being played.
* Traffic Jump allows users to automatically tune to the traffic message of a chosen metro area when the message becomes available to avoid missing important updates.
Vehicles not equipped with the iDrive controller will still have the Traffic Jump and Direct Channel Input features added to the feature set for 2010 when ordered with the SIRIUS option.
BMW Group In America
BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 87 MINI passenger car dealers, and 31 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Gemtrader 10:27AM (11/05/2009)
They can still keep it. It's still mediocre and now you're paying for it, commercials and all. Just say no to useless expenses.
Reply
Jim 10:32AM (11/05/2009)
I don't find it useless.
Spankee 10:44AM (11/05/2009)
I went from being a huge Sirius supporter to thinking it was a waste of money overnight when their new merged channel lineup revealed that they killed half of the channels I liked and overlaid XM channels on the other half. Oh, and when they raised the prices.
Honestly, harddrive or MP3 player integration is much more worth the money for me at this point.
Mark 1:27PM (11/05/2009)
Obviously you've never subscribed to satellite radio. If you had, you would have a different opinion of it and most likely you wouldn't be able to live without it. But nonetheless, myself and over 18 million satellite radio subscribers would beg to differ with your opinion.
Brandon 3:10PM (11/05/2009)
@Mark
If I was counted in that 18 million, I think it should be changed to 17,999,999.
Spankee 4:02PM (11/05/2009)
@Mark
I have three Sirius subscriptions (one in my car, one in my wife's car, one for my wife's desk at work). I will not be renewing my subscription for a fourth year. My next door neighbor cancelled her subscription after two years for the reasons I stated above.
Frankly, "Funny in the Morning," isn't and I don't need two trance channels instead of one tance, one breakbeat. They brought Backspin back, which is good, but not enough to offset the increase in pice and decrease in services. I love Jason Ellis, but not enough to make up for how pissed off I am at the other changes.
So, yeah, some of us can happily go back.
Ben 10:31AM (11/05/2009)
yay, they lowered the price. big deal. they could just make it standard like other manufacturers. or they could offer HD radio which requires no annual subscription.
Reply
Jim 10:34AM (11/05/2009)
Unfortunately HD radio doesn't really address the key problem that in most major markets, terrestrial radio is a wasteland plugged up with advertising (up to 20 minutes per hour!)
Govt Baby 10:35AM (11/05/2009)
HD radio is standard.
audi_arena 1:50PM (11/05/2009)
Seriously... every Audi has been equipped with it since the 2009 model year... this isn't news...
PaulPaul 10:41AM (11/05/2009)
let me know when car makers cut NAVIGATION 41% lol
Reply
Dissident 11:16AM (11/05/2009)
Then it will only cost twice what an aftermarket solution does...
Ross 10:44AM (11/05/2009)
Here's hoping they soon drop the price to retrofit pre-2010 models. I'd opt for satellite radio in my E91, but I don't want a separate unit and I'm not about to pay BMW's $900 charge. (Wouldn't it make sense for Sirius to subsidize these installs in return for, say, signing up for a three-year subscription? You know, the cell phone model ...)
Reply
Taylor 10:49AM (11/05/2009)
My Accent SE came with satellite radio free.
Reply
Luis 11:02AM (11/05/2009)
That's to get you to drive an Accent SE. (sorry, really couldn't resist) ;)
Steve 10:57AM (11/05/2009)
Umm Howard Stern is more popular than Oprah on Satellite, Oprah is only on once a month on her channel.
Reply
STVA 11:02AM (11/05/2009)
Yeah, this doesn't seem like a big deal when many econo cars come with satellite radio at no additional charge. Aftermarket units are only about $50, so this is still a rip-off.
Reply
Nick 11:19AM (11/05/2009)
The problem is that most car manufactures have designed their units away from the standard 2 DIN setup so that you can't put in an aftermarket radio....Honda being the worst of the all.
STVA 11:33AM (11/05/2009)
I was thinking of the plug and play units. These aren't as clean, but you can hide the antenna and hard wire the power and use an aux jack if available for a relatively clean look.
Eric Liberatore 11:20AM (11/05/2009)
I've decided to drop XM now that Pandora is available via my cellphone. Only problem is successfully dropping XM. It's like cancelling AOL a few years ago. The process will take about a month over several phone calls because they hang up on you.
Reply