You also have the option of paying up front for the optional heating. This has long been a pay-ahead-of-time option that you had to specify before the car was manufactured. They are now giving you the option of having a subscription instead, and putting the hardware in the car. In reality, nothing has changed because the same pay-ahead option is still there.
Does that answer your question, or is my answer not clickbaity enough?
> In reality, nothing has changed because the same pay-ahead option is still there.
That is not true. In the past you have owned a car you bought. Who is going to pay for seat heating if a seat has to be replaced? Who is paying for the fuel caused by the extra weight for stuff you didn't want. What happens if you decide to modify the car you own and run the seat heating yourself?
That business model isn't new. It is common for cruise control modules to be installed in all vehicles and "enabled" with a certain steering wheel having extra buttons.
Having the functionality restricted behind a missing button etc isn't new. For example, it's the same with engines where the same block is used across different performance variants when used with the uprated parts... The new bit is being charged monthly for access. If you don't pay, they remotely disable the functionality.
Does that answer your question, or is my answer not clickbaity enough?