Last year, Ford announced a device called SmartLink, which would allow owners to add connectivity features to older cars. Now the automaker is getting ready for a full-scale rollout of the renamed FordPass SmartLink.

SmartLink is designed to give owners of Ford and Lincoln vehicles from model years 2010 to 2017 connectivity features that weren’t available when their cars were new, including smartphone control of locking and unlocking, vehicle health reports, vehicle location tracking, and onboard Wi-Fi. These cars don’t have those features because they don’t have the built-in modems Ford uses for connectivity.

FordPass SmartLink launches later this year, priced starting at $17 a month for 24 months, plus installation, for both the device and the telematics services that enable smartphone-controlled key fob functions (such as locking and unlocking the car), vehicle location tracker, and vehicle health reports. These health reports may generate more business for Ford dealers, who will also install and charge for SmartLink, and therefore welcome the new device.

The monthly fee also includes a complimentary Verizon 4G LTE Wi-Fi hot spot trial, with 1 gigabyte or 30 days of data (whichever comes first). Once the trial expires, users can continue to get in-car Wi-Fi by adding their SmartLink device to an existing Verizon data plan, or by signing up for a new one. It is the same procedure as getting data access in a car with a built-in modem.

For existing Ford and Lincoln customers who want more connectivity, FordPass SmartLink might be an attractive option. Others, however, might not see the benefit of paying for something that makes it easier to harvest data from their vehicles and ends up nagging them about oil changes. Ford is the first large automaker to try something like this on a large scale. It will be interesting to see how people react.

Describe the positioning for FordPass SmartLink (i.e., write a positioning statement).