BMW has announced that all of its latest cars will feature satellite navigation as a standard feature, regardless of specification, from September 2015.
This change will be completed at the same time the facelifted BMW 1 Series goes on sale in Britain. Some models will get standard sat-nav sooner, such as the 2 Series Active Tourer and 2 Series Convertible during this July.
The standard system is called BMW Navigation and features a 6.5-inch colour display, 3D mapping and an iDrive controller.
Customers can upgrade to a more sophisticated sat-nav, called BMW Professional, which has an 8.8-inch touchscreen display and includes Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI). The pricing for this optional sat-nav has been reduced by BMW, and now starts from £900. The BMW Z4 sports car will feature the Professional sat-nav as standard from this July.
BMW’s decision to make sat-nav standard for all of its cars is significant as it is the first manufacturer in the mass-produced premium sector to do so. It’s an incentive which its arch-rivals, Audi and Mercedes, currently do not offer.
The move should also prove beneficial for the updated 1 Series range, which starts from £20,245 when it launches this September. BMW claims that residual values for its 1 Series range could improve by 5 per cent on average, because of the extra kit it offers, including the standard sat-nav.
