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Mercedes Charging $1200 Annual Fee For Access to Faster Acceleration
BMW sparked outrage when they tried charging $18 a month in some countries to use the heated seats within their vehicles. They also tried charging $80 a month to access Apple CarPlay and Android Auto features that the car came with from the factory.
Mercedes is now the latest manufacturer to lock features behind a monthly or annual subscription fee. They announced an acceleration increase which would let customers pay to access higher motor performance figures the car is already capable of delivering.
The $1,200 yearly subscription improves performance by boosting output from the motors by 20–24 percent, increasing torque, and shaving around 0.8 to 0.9 seconds off 0–60 mph acceleration when in Dynamic drive mode (via The Drive). The subscription doesn’t come with any physical hardware upgrades — instead, it simply unlocks the full capabilities of the vehicle, indicating that Mercedes intentionally limited performance to later sell as an optional extra. Acceleration Increase is only available for the Mercedes-EQ EQE and Mercedes-EQ EQS electric car models.
As global sales for new cars have fallen in recent years, car manufacturers have pivoted toward selling software updates and features as subscriptions to generate a continuous revenue stream long after a car has been purchased. While this makes sense for certain software-specific offerings (such as premium navigation features or remote vehicle monitoring), Mercedes paywalling its vehicle performance is part of an emerging, more loathsome trend that sees auto brands restricting the capabilities of hardware that already comes factory-equipped with the vehicle.
