When Apple’s CarPlay was announced, one of their participating partners was Mercedes-Benz. The CarPlay feature is expected to debut in newer models that will be released later this year, but what does that mean for older models? What does it mean for customers who might have bought a Mercedes-Benz last week but don’t get access to the feature?It sounds like something consumers might get upset about. After all it doesn’t seem fair, right? Well the good news is that Mercedes-Benz will not be forgetting about their older customers and according to a statement the company released to 9to5Mac, it is the company’s goal “to offer an after market solution by the end of the year.”
What this means is that for customers who are driving older models, Mercedes will be looking for a way to try and integrate CarPlay into your vehicle so that drivers will also be able to get access to and enjoy the latest technology.
We’re not sure how an after market installation will work. Perhaps it might require customers to bring their vehicles back to Mercedes for installation? There is also no word on how much Mercedes might charge customers to install this feature in their vehicles, and also if there are exemptions to be made for customers who bought their vehicles in a certain period of time, say a few months to a year before the launch of the newer models and so on.
There was also no mention if there are models that might not be compatible with the installation. Either way if you’re the owner of an older model, there is a chance that you could give it a tech makeover later this year.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for any additional announcements from Mercedes, so check back with us later for the details.
Filed in . Read more about Carplay and Mercedes Benz.