When CarPlay was announced, the general idea was that it would be making its way into newer car models, meaning that for the most part, older car models would not be getting the feature. Ferrari is one the car manufacturers that Apple has partnered up with and for a company that creates such beautiful, fast, and expensive sports cars, it seems that they have no intentions of bringing the technology to their older models.
One would think that the price that they are paying for a Ferrari that the company would at least look after its customers by offering to retrofit older models with CarPlay, right? According to a Ferrari representative, “The new system CarPlay is available only on new range cars and cannot be installed on older ones.”
Instead as a consolation of sorts, Ferrari will instead offer older models last generation’s infotainment system which they claim will be compatible with modern phones, although it will probably be different from what CarPlay is offering.
Volvo themselves appear to be uncertain as to whether older models would get the feature, claiming that technical and usability roadblocks are something the company would have to take under consideration.
This is a stark contrast from the likes of Mercedes-Benz who has revealed their plans to offer an aftermarket solution by the end of the year that would allow older models to be retrofitted with CarPlay. Pioneer too has announced their plans at bringing a CarPlay alternative to car models that might not necessarily support the technology.