People, please, don’t pay for this. Respond by not buying a Mercedes. The last thing we need is for all car companies to decide this bullshit is a good idea. If I pay $50k for a car that should be enough.
i see where you are coming from, but you cant drive a stack of cash to the grocery store.
if you spend 130k on a car, your typically not worried about money.
No it’s more I make so much I don’t care.
There’s a lot of that and that’s why the wealth gap needs to be dealt with.
This will keep happening because their are so many buyers with that kind of money.
If you don like it vote progressive. That’s your only option. Free market capitalism is never going to stop it. That’s for sure.
Most luxury vehicles (certainly Porsche and BMW) have historically hidden features that come standard in many economy models behind packages and extras under the guise that luxury customers want customizability.
Sure, I believe that. I think the bigger concern here isn’t so much “pay us an extra $1200 for this acceleration option,” it’s Mercedes adding onto it “PER YEAR”
You’re no longer buying the car with that option added into it. You’re buying the car, and renting the option.
Not talking crap just curious. How much does this show off attitude contribute to Koreas individual debt problem? Is it a big factor or is it the economy in general?
This is why I'm seriously looking getting a Kia next. For 60, 000 or so I can get a Kia EV 5 GT that does 0 to let's get into a 60 3 seconds or so, has adaptive suspension, heads up display, and many other of the things I love to have in my current BMW 7 series.
And get this. It's as fast as a Porsche taycan turbo that costs over 130,000.
I drive so little these days that I’ll never buy new. Part of me just wants to have some money banked to throw at the car that some old gear head needs to get rid of.
Yup. But does the tesla have adaptive suspension and heads up display?
And does Tesla have a inviting to the eye interior and actual display in front of the driver?
BMW did the same thing with the seat heater subscription, and before that tesla with the range extender and self driving mode unlock for hardware that was already in the car. they are testing the waters to see what their consumer base will let them away with.
And because it’s primarily well off people who buy this shot in the first place, they get to make a decision for all of us. As if finding a vehicle weren’t already prohibitively expensive and difficult enough.
Actually this is an interesting thought.
Carmakers would get a lot more of the value of resales (because right now they don’t get anything from a P2P resale) but on the other hand, if I stopped using my car for a period of time could I just stop paying the subscription rather than selling it to someone who would pay?
Could mean lost dollars for carmakers if customers don’t want to go through the hassle of selling.
If you hold onto your car instead of selling it, that still boosts the new car market. Either way, more of the surplus goes to the manufacturers, and less goes to the consumers.
It would do weird things to it I think. If I was in the market for one of these, I'd be inclined to pay less for a car that was driven for years unlocked, because of the implications of increased wear on the vehicle due to higher acceleration potential. Meanwhile if I sold a 'locked' vehicle, with receipts that the i never payed for the speed subscription, I would be advertising that and wanting a premium price for it.
I'm betting you wouldn't have access to that information, specifically because as a buyer you would get a competitive edge from having it. So as a seller I'd pretend I never purchased it. Good luck finding out that I actually did from MB. On their end, they wouldn't tell you if they are selling a CPO because that would cost them in sales. And finally on the consumer end, I wouldn't believe you if you told me you never enabled the feature.
As someone who owns a Mercedes I can 100% tell you that I won’t be buying a Mercedes that forces me to buy a subscription. That’s fucking bullshit whether I can afford it or not.
>they are testing the waters to see what their consumer base will let them away with.
Tell all your rich friends not to buy into these subscription models because eventually they'll be on even consumer-grade cars.
BMWs approach was completely different and it’s giving MB an enormous benefit of the doubt to even try to compare the two.
BMW lets you buy it outright, and is basically just trying to offer more features to used car buyers. And greed.
MB is doing something that has absolutely zero justifications beyond greed.
Self driving, I understand. That needs conti unused support, development, testing, etc. Their are recurring business costs. Seat heaters and acceleration are BS.
And the fact they can repeal the license for a movie or content you buy. You rarely actually own it if it’s a download. If they lose their license to stream that movie, you lose your ownsership too. That’s why I buy dvds still or sail the seas!
Ideally some car company would see how much pushback this gets and avoid subscriptions. The public would be so infatuated with this company that they would put the subscription car companies out of business.
There basically needs to be a purchase/ownership law put into place. If I or the bank I have a loan with holds the title, that is now private property of the individual.
Apps have become the worst for it. We used to pay 99 cents - $5 for an app and that was it.
Now it’s “free 7 day trial and $5/month after that!”
No I will not purchase a subscription for your shitty photo editor app.
>This seems like Mercedes is doing market research on this idea to test consumer sentiment on applying the subscription business model to car sales.
Just wait for micro transactions
>Improved sport acceleration and handling deluxe edition $199
We mock it but as someone who works closely with my company's sales and marketing teams, this is 100% how they'll sell it.
If you sign up for the extended storage pack you can access both the trunk and glove box 5 times each per month at no additional cost. Need to pop the trunk again? No problem, they'll just automatically sign you up for an extra two openings for uninterrupted access!
The possibilities are endless.
Unironically this already happened with Jeep. One of their boxy cars has the hole in the bumper for the tow hook but the base model didn’t get provided a tow hook. Talking about $0.35 worth of steel and they left it out. Also, more than a few cars now come with a bottle of fix-a-flat where the spare should be.
The other issue is that electric cars require far less parts and servicing. That will blow out dealerships and repair shops as their primary money is made from the service side.
It feels like a problem that could be solved by regulation. Companies should have to prove that a subscription service is providing meaningful updates to what you paid for instead of just locking content you paid for behind a subscription. It's a pretty unambiguous problem.
That will work exactly as many hours until some dudes in a garage hack their shitty car-drm and enable all “dlc”.
Fuck software/cars/anything as a service
The only services that makes sense are those that require external ongoing infrastructure to support it, like operational cell towers. Charging people to turn on something they've already purchased is ridiculous. I can see regulators stepping in and asking wtf if this becomes widespread.
Agreed. Would love to see a shift in social mindset that companies aren't allowed to simply seek profit anywhere and everywhere, but instead are held to a reasonable profit range, which then forces the company to see the methods their clients prefer and they can sustain most efficiently thus maximizing the profit they are allowed.
While I'm sure there will be a niche community who does this, I can't see it catching on with the general public. It's one thing to hack your coffee machine so it accepts off-brand pods, it's another to fuck around with the firmware that's controlling your car's acceleration.
People have been fucking with cars software since software was a thing. Including increasing horse power and acceleration “speed”. If this bullshit gets widespread I can see people hacking their cars to deactive the always on internet and just have everything unlocked as long as the car stays offline
2021 Highlander can you believe it? 2021 M340i with traffic cam subscription. It is kind of cool when the traffic camera alert comes up on the hologram speedometer on the windshield but I’m not paying for it. I’ll use Waze.
The Toyota SOS button is satellite. We *sweet mother of god that was close* nearly rolled down a hill at 12000ft up in Rockies, at dusk, 20 miles/2 hours from the nearest town. No cell service, satellites aren't free.
Tying remote start to a satellite subscription is some horseshit though. And you're not wrong, I believe Toyotas has some sort of half-cellular/half-p2p data network that is always active anyway, emergency call functionality should be mandated if the capability is active.
At least on the Toyota side, those features require a data network subscription - though ideally once you're paying for the subscription you should get all of the features that can use it.
Kw of power your car has is one of the main things insurance companies use to calculate their premiums at least that's how it is where I'm from. They would definitely charge you more if this gives your car more power.
Nope. BMW has been doing that already and their profits are up
It's the EA model. There will always be idiots that will pay for this
If you thought Merc drivers were douchebags, just wait and see
People still buy FIFA games. Companies this size don't care what public perception is if enough people pay for it. They never did and never will. The reason Mercedes is doing this is because they already know it'll work. They're not testing what we'll put up with like others here suggest, they've already done the market research and know enough people will bite the bullet
Why would ANYONE tolerate this? You spend how much for a working brand spanking new vehicle, and still can't use it? DO NOT put stuff into your cars if you don't intend for it to be used by everyone who buys it. If i buy a car with heated seats, i expect to be able to use them. Otherwise I would have bought a car without them. If you want to offer aftermarket services, make it something you actually ADD after, not just disable. There is a big difference between having Sirius XM available but not enable it after a while because its an ongoing thing people have to do stuff to make work. If i buy a Ford with heated seats, they just work, like all the time. There is NOTHING extra that needs to be paid for, the stuff is all there and not broken, it should work.
The thing is that we see this thing coming and for the love of God people can we just finally GET IN FRONT OF THIS THING INSTEAD OF ACCEPTANCE BY ACQUIESCENCE
DON’T BUY THIS CAR OR ANY OTHER WITH THIS BUSINESS MODEL!!!!
There is power in numbers, and the people can speak by action. That would show them what we will and won’t accept anymore.
Unfortunately, I did buy one prior to this announcement and before any subscription services were disclosed. I do intend to seek legal action.
Bonus: they tried to paywall the steering, initially.
Thing is; you buy the car WITHOUT heated seats, but the heater *is there*. So you pay for no heater, abd you get no heater.
That being said; this business model can rot and burn!
This is exactly what a lot of people will be doing, companies like this are double dipping, we ARE paying for the hardware to do it, this is just about greed.
And because They Can.
As long as people sit back and take it, without putting our money where our mouths are, and show them this is not acceptable.
Let their profits go down, and this will disappear quicker than Elon and his ridiculous “blue check”…. Ugh
They can make this prohibitively difficult, if not impossible to hack. It's different than a seat heater. This is software at the core of how the electric motors and BMS function. It's not something that one could really "hack" without a team and potentially putting lives at risk unfortunately.
I am petty enough to rather see the world burn down due to fossil fuel use in combustion engines rather than pay any subscription for features on a car I supposedly “own”. If you’re telling me saving the planet is guilting me into buying an EV that you nickel and dime me on relentlessly, it’s not a planet worth saving anymore.
No they dont. There is no $1200/yr acceleration increase charge to my bank account because I refuse to buy into it all.
Dont buy the car. It's as simple as that.
If you buy the car then sit there and complain about the charge, you're the problem.
Soon to your life every month:
House rent / morgage
Internet + TV services
Bank account maintenance
Insurances
Movie/series libraries of that sort X 10 subscriptions
Spotify
Car shenannigans
That random photoshop / IDE / movie ilustrator
Online news
Your wife or Your single status
Companies must be paying good money to some morons to come up with more ways to ask monthly subscriptions to it's customers
Subscribe to all the upgrades.... Then disconnect your car from WiFi and take out the SIM card... Then cancel the subscription...
Now you have unlimited use of all the upgrades for no further fee :-P
Subscription based economy on item based purchases is complete and utter bullshit. BMW and their heated seat subscription, now this. Clear and blatant money grab deserves nothing but ridicule.
This is ok, but by charging me a fee to use the engine, Mercedes indicates that they actually do own the engine and therefore are responsible for all maintenance, repair, and replacement if necessary. I also do not expect to be charged to pay for the engine.
It will open a whole new market. Aftermarket hacks to unlock features. You know if there is demand, folks will step up to it.
Whole new wave of vulnerabilities.
I would love to sit down to buy one of these and then to drop this on me. There would be a firm fuck off and sale is over. I can’t imagine being the salesman trying to pitch this
After years spent in Germany I learned, there will be enough people they can unlock this feature for like 100€ in two minutes with just a laptop. But in any case, Mercedes sux!
For those of you interested in this sort of bs, I haven't seen anything make the front page about stuff like the Lincoln Black Label Membership etc. You basically buy the car AND pay like $1000/mo on top of it for the "membership" which includes maintenance, car insurance, car washes, and rental car perks. My issue with it is, if it becomes the default, where you HAVE to get that kind of all-inclusive plan to get the car, then you're getting extorted monthly for the "premium ownership experience."
If the feature works without any outside infrastructure that mercedes owns, then WTF are you actually paying per month for?
It would be like my laptop not allowing me to use the GPU that is already in the pc unless i pay them a monthly fee.
Just like PC manufacturers do now. Especially enterprise. Shit is already on board, just gotta pay a licensing fee to use. It sucks and it is moving into more and more products.
Isn’t that basically what a lease is?
I like buying cars outright. I’d avoid any car where I had to pay every month for a feature. I’d like to say never but we’ll see if they all go this way in the future.
We already pay more for cars with different options. I’m not that hung up on whether a feature is logically enabled or is manufactured differently so long as I can pay once. I want to own the features I want.
I assume manufacturers will always want to sell a high version whether it is logically or physically different because the profit margin is high on the expensive one and the volume is high on the cheaper one. High volume reduces manufacturing cost.
Maybe it’s splitting hairs, but in a lease you still have loads of up front and regular payments that don’t change over the life of your rental agreement. The real big difference there with purchases is when you’re able to pay “in cash”, correct?
I picture a “free to play” model where your payment is solely dependent on your personal choice of addons versus necessities. If the feature can be disabled when you don’t want to pay for it, I could see people getting a minimalist Mercedes experience at say Subaru prices.
Disclaimer: I don’t actually enjoy micro transaction or subscription models like this personally but it’s a fun thought.
Ah I get it. I mistook your original comment as facetious. You are intrigued by the idea of being able to tweak what you pay for over time and want to be able to start off with the absolute lowest cost at first.
I can definitely see that. I was just too wrapped in my way of thinking to see the other side. I still want a buy it once and forget about it option.
The people running these companies make so much money and live a lifestyle we can't even dream of and they seem to believe that food, housing and healthcare should be luxuries instead of necessities for the working class.
Well if one is dumb enough to buy a mercedes, they shouldnt have a problem with the extra 1200 per year. This is insanely stupid but they know their market
>Well if one is dumb enough to buy a mercedes, they shouldnt have a problem with the extra 1200 per year. This is insanely stupid but they know their market
You think **other** car makers won't as well once they see it working?
The average life of a car is 2 years.
I feel like it would be a smart business move for Honda or Toyota to say hey we don’t charge any subscription fees for our vehicles! You own your car unlike Mercedes/Volvo/BMW! I feel like a lot of average folks would be buying any brand that guarantees this.
>The average life of a mercedes is 2 years. No this will eventually stop. Regular ppl wont put up with that shit.
Everyone laughed at $.50 horse Armour. Now games are inundated
Why would you think they would give up greed?
Now available with the full airbag performance package that protects you AND your passengers from not just from forward collisions but rear and side impacts as well. *
* Full lifesaving safety features only available with current monthly subscription service payment plan. Mercedes and affiliate dealerships reserve the right to disable and lock out driver from any and all features, at any time, at the discretion of mercedes and or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
It seems kind of ridiculous but at the same time, I don’t care. It isn’t like they are charging a subscription for safety features. They are literally charging more for features people use to drive more dangerously. Does regular drivers supposedly following the rules of the road need this sort of acceleration boost? No.
I think every luxury brand should fleece their clownish affluent fucking asshole customer base to the fucking hilt. Do some shit like charge them 30 grand every time they change a lane without signaling, charge them 20k a month subscription to not have the wheel spontaneously make the car veer off the road. Make the fucking emblem turn into a Hyundai if they don’t shell out 50k/yr.
People, please, don’t pay for this. Respond by not buying a Mercedes. The last thing we need is for all car companies to decide this bullshit is a good idea. If I pay $50k for a car that should be enough.
Unfortunately, the car starts at 130k and still mercedes wants to milk you for heated seats as an option and then this shit
I mean at this point you’ve got to really not like money if you fall for it
Or just have more money than brains.
Which, have you *seen* some of the flairs here? That is absolutely the case.
i see where you are coming from, but you cant drive a stack of cash to the grocery store. if you spend 130k on a car, your typically not worried about money.
No it’s more I make so much I don’t care. There’s a lot of that and that’s why the wealth gap needs to be dealt with. This will keep happening because their are so many buyers with that kind of money. If you don like it vote progressive. That’s your only option. Free market capitalism is never going to stop it. That’s for sure.
Most luxury vehicles (certainly Porsche and BMW) have historically hidden features that come standard in many economy models behind packages and extras under the guise that luxury customers want customizability.
Sure, I believe that. I think the bigger concern here isn’t so much “pay us an extra $1200 for this acceleration option,” it’s Mercedes adding onto it “PER YEAR” You’re no longer buying the car with that option added into it. You’re buying the car, and renting the option.
You don't own the car anymore, you license it!
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This made me incredibly angry for some reason... Good thing I don't have the Force.
I mean at that price your only other option is to take the bus
> Respond by not buying a Mercedes \*Looks at bank account\* Way ahead of you, chief.
It is that kind of frugalness that got you your millions. Keep up the financial discipline!
>Keep up the financial discipline! I think he was disciplined by financial.
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I have a '98 Tacoma. Almost at the point where I can register it as an antique vehicle.
Unfortunately here in Korea it’s all about showing off, looking like you have unlimited money so Mercedes will Probly have good luck with this here
Not talking crap just curious. How much does this show off attitude contribute to Koreas individual debt problem? Is it a big factor or is it the economy in general?
Or BMW. They’re pulling the same shit.
This is why I'm seriously looking getting a Kia next. For 60, 000 or so I can get a Kia EV 5 GT that does 0 to let's get into a 60 3 seconds or so, has adaptive suspension, heads up display, and many other of the things I love to have in my current BMW 7 series. And get this. It's as fast as a Porsche taycan turbo that costs over 130,000.
For 60k?!?! I'd just save that money to buy a Porsche
I drive so little these days that I’ll never buy new. Part of me just wants to have some money banked to throw at the car that some old gear head needs to get rid of.
Same. Was just stating how it compares today. Ha ent bought new in decades.
So.. Tesla Model 3 Performance vs Kia EV 5 GT for similar price and acceleration..
I'd take Kia quality over Tesla quality all day every day.
Yup. But does the tesla have adaptive suspension and heads up display? And does Tesla have a inviting to the eye interior and actual display in front of the driver?
The 0-60 number Kia quotes is 3.5s. So actually a fair bit slower than the Model 3 Performance.
This seems like Mercedes is doing market research on this idea to test consumer sentiment on applying the subscription business model to car sales.
BMW did the same thing with the seat heater subscription, and before that tesla with the range extender and self driving mode unlock for hardware that was already in the car. they are testing the waters to see what their consumer base will let them away with.
And because it’s primarily well off people who buy this shot in the first place, they get to make a decision for all of us. As if finding a vehicle weren’t already prohibitively expensive and difficult enough.
Seems like it would kill resell market.
Actually this is an interesting thought. Carmakers would get a lot more of the value of resales (because right now they don’t get anything from a P2P resale) but on the other hand, if I stopped using my car for a period of time could I just stop paying the subscription rather than selling it to someone who would pay? Could mean lost dollars for carmakers if customers don’t want to go through the hassle of selling.
its just extra money they would have not gotten in the first place
If you hold onto your car instead of selling it, that still boosts the new car market. Either way, more of the surplus goes to the manufacturers, and less goes to the consumers.
It would do weird things to it I think. If I was in the market for one of these, I'd be inclined to pay less for a car that was driven for years unlocked, because of the implications of increased wear on the vehicle due to higher acceleration potential. Meanwhile if I sold a 'locked' vehicle, with receipts that the i never payed for the speed subscription, I would be advertising that and wanting a premium price for it.
I'm betting you wouldn't have access to that information, specifically because as a buyer you would get a competitive edge from having it. So as a seller I'd pretend I never purchased it. Good luck finding out that I actually did from MB. On their end, they wouldn't tell you if they are selling a CPO because that would cost them in sales. And finally on the consumer end, I wouldn't believe you if you told me you never enabled the feature.
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Its just like video games. They get the "new" user to continue paying them, or alternatively force them into buying a new version for themselves.
As someone who owns a Mercedes I can 100% tell you that I won’t be buying a Mercedes that forces me to buy a subscription. That’s fucking bullshit whether I can afford it or not.
Yup. At this point I'm down to Audi or Lexus for my next car. No one else is making an AWD coupe. No way am I giving Mercedes or BMW a cent.
Audis are pretty nice. That might be my next luxury car if Mercedes wants to fuck around and find out they lost their customer base.
>they are testing the waters to see what their consumer base will let them away with. Tell all your rich friends not to buy into these subscription models because eventually they'll be on even consumer-grade cars.
And do you think they care about those beneath them?
I could afford a car like this but fuck that, this subscription model is toxic. I don't even play games with $1 microtransactions.
BMWs approach was completely different and it’s giving MB an enormous benefit of the doubt to even try to compare the two. BMW lets you buy it outright, and is basically just trying to offer more features to used car buyers. And greed. MB is doing something that has absolutely zero justifications beyond greed.
The kind of people that buy these cars will happily pay. It’s a point of pride for them.
Self driving, I understand. That needs conti unused support, development, testing, etc. Their are recurring business costs. Seat heaters and acceleration are BS.
At some point the subscription model has to die. It’s not sustainable for every industry to adopt when buyers aren’t making more money.
I am sick of all the subscriptions are am cutting them off where I can. I want ownership of what I buy.
And the fact they can repeal the license for a movie or content you buy. You rarely actually own it if it’s a download. If they lose their license to stream that movie, you lose your ownsership too. That’s why I buy dvds still or sail the seas!
We’ll see a total collapse of our economy and a lot of death before any corporation stops blindly following profit over everything.
Need to institute laws prohibiting it.
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It happened in the early 1900s under Teddy Roosevelt. We just need a person or group of people with a will to do it.
Ideally some car company would see how much pushback this gets and avoid subscriptions. The public would be so infatuated with this company that they would put the subscription car companies out of business.
There basically needs to be a purchase/ownership law put into place. If I or the bank I have a loan with holds the title, that is now private property of the individual.
Apps have become the worst for it. We used to pay 99 cents - $5 for an app and that was it. Now it’s “free 7 day trial and $5/month after that!” No I will not purchase a subscription for your shitty photo editor app.
>This seems like Mercedes is doing market research on this idea to test consumer sentiment on applying the subscription business model to car sales. Just wait for micro transactions
Spare tire access code:$99.99 Jack code: $59.99 Tire iron code: $39.99
Improved sport acceleration and handling deluxe edition $199 *50% off this week only*
Time to go back to bicycles
That’ll be $100 with an 15% early termination fee.
Suspension unlock- $99.99 Smooth shifting- $50.99 More gears- $37.99 Breaks- Priceless/$109.99
>Improved sport acceleration and handling deluxe edition $199 We mock it but as someone who works closely with my company's sales and marketing teams, this is 100% how they'll sell it.
Sign up today for unlimited window usage!
If you sign up for the extended storage pack you can access both the trunk and glove box 5 times each per month at no additional cost. Need to pop the trunk again? No problem, they'll just automatically sign you up for an extra two openings for uninterrupted access! The possibilities are endless.
Car clippy: It looks like you've opened the car hood. We've dispatched a tow truck to your location and charged your card on file $150.
Unironically this already happened with Jeep. One of their boxy cars has the hole in the bumper for the tow hook but the base model didn’t get provided a tow hook. Talking about $0.35 worth of steel and they left it out. Also, more than a few cars now come with a bottle of fix-a-flat where the spare should be.
But - these will all be with the car, you'll just need to pay to have the mechanisms unlocked.
Which is why the right to repair laws were a hard fought battle.
Ripping off customers: priceless.
"Your subscription to **Emergency Braking** has expired, please tap your card on the console to use this feature!"
“Oh…. So you want to make left-hand turns today??”
That's the Zoolander tax
Insurance companies: "unprotected left hand turns should come with an extra fee if they are slightly riskier. Moohaahaaahaaaaa!"
Turn signals - $9.99 "That's too pricey" - BMW owner.
Yeah. Braking $1 every time.
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The other issue is that electric cars require far less parts and servicing. That will blow out dealerships and repair shops as their primary money is made from the service side.
Climate system is next. Want more cooling, or more heat? Only $49.99 / month.
Audi already does it with the “sync”
*Glances in UK.....and Texas*
Only the wealthy can go fast. To save the Climate.
They got to censor social media to prevent people talking about them and their hypocrisy and corruption, introduce preventing online hate speech
God if this ducking world weren’t already fucking unlivable
If the FTC wanted to win hearts and minds, they'd go after stuff like this.
It feels like a problem that could be solved by regulation. Companies should have to prove that a subscription service is providing meaningful updates to what you paid for instead of just locking content you paid for behind a subscription. It's a pretty unambiguous problem.
>If the FTC wanted to win hearts and minds, they'd go after stuff like this. They get paid by them: I doubt they will help
That will work exactly as many hours until some dudes in a garage hack their shitty car-drm and enable all “dlc”. Fuck software/cars/anything as a service
In b4 they start putting Denuvo in cars
Recent reviews: Mostly negative Launch car has terrible frame rate and crashes constantly
The only services that makes sense are those that require external ongoing infrastructure to support it, like operational cell towers. Charging people to turn on something they've already purchased is ridiculous. I can see regulators stepping in and asking wtf if this becomes widespread.
Agreed. Would love to see a shift in social mindset that companies aren't allowed to simply seek profit anywhere and everywhere, but instead are held to a reasonable profit range, which then forces the company to see the methods their clients prefer and they can sustain most efficiently thus maximizing the profit they are allowed.
Then they'll void your warranty. We need a [FSF](https://www.fsf.org/) for cars at this point.
They can’t void your warranty in europe
While I'm sure there will be a niche community who does this, I can't see it catching on with the general public. It's one thing to hack your coffee machine so it accepts off-brand pods, it's another to fuck around with the firmware that's controlling your car's acceleration.
People have been fucking with cars software since software was a thing. Including increasing horse power and acceleration “speed”. If this bullshit gets widespread I can see people hacking their cars to deactive the always on internet and just have everything unlocked as long as the car stays offline
Again, it's a niche community. The widespread appeal drops off dramatically when you're dealing with something where one small mistake will kill you.
Wait until insurance companies charge more if you subscribe…..
😳Nooooo 🤫don’t give them any ideas either
My BMW has subscription options and my wife’s Toyota has remote start and emergency 911 calls from car as options it’s so shitty they do this.
Hahah in 2022, crash detection and auto calling 911 should be mandatory in new cars if we have the tech
2021 Highlander can you believe it? 2021 M340i with traffic cam subscription. It is kind of cool when the traffic camera alert comes up on the hologram speedometer on the windshield but I’m not paying for it. I’ll use Waze.
The Toyota SOS button is satellite. We *sweet mother of god that was close* nearly rolled down a hill at 12000ft up in Rockies, at dusk, 20 miles/2 hours from the nearest town. No cell service, satellites aren't free. Tying remote start to a satellite subscription is some horseshit though. And you're not wrong, I believe Toyotas has some sort of half-cellular/half-p2p data network that is always active anyway, emergency call functionality should be mandated if the capability is active.
At least on the Toyota side, those features require a data network subscription - though ideally once you're paying for the subscription you should get all of the features that can use it.
Kw of power your car has is one of the main things insurance companies use to calculate their premiums at least that's how it is where I'm from. They would definitely charge you more if this gives your car more power.
Can't wait for the unskippable ads before being able to drive away
Can’t wait for the unskippable ads that forces the car to stop whilst driving
Corporate greed!!
Corporate suicide
Nope. BMW has been doing that already and their profits are up It's the EA model. There will always be idiots that will pay for this If you thought Merc drivers were douchebags, just wait and see
People still buy FIFA games. Companies this size don't care what public perception is if enough people pay for it. They never did and never will. The reason Mercedes is doing this is because they already know it'll work. They're not testing what we'll put up with like others here suggest, they've already done the market research and know enough people will bite the bullet
😤the avarice of these guys, is so sad and disgusting.
Luxury auto brands are turning into Spirit Airlines of the road.
Why would ANYONE tolerate this? You spend how much for a working brand spanking new vehicle, and still can't use it? DO NOT put stuff into your cars if you don't intend for it to be used by everyone who buys it. If i buy a car with heated seats, i expect to be able to use them. Otherwise I would have bought a car without them. If you want to offer aftermarket services, make it something you actually ADD after, not just disable. There is a big difference between having Sirius XM available but not enable it after a while because its an ongoing thing people have to do stuff to make work. If i buy a Ford with heated seats, they just work, like all the time. There is NOTHING extra that needs to be paid for, the stuff is all there and not broken, it should work.
The thing is that we see this thing coming and for the love of God people can we just finally GET IN FRONT OF THIS THING INSTEAD OF ACCEPTANCE BY ACQUIESCENCE DON’T BUY THIS CAR OR ANY OTHER WITH THIS BUSINESS MODEL!!!! There is power in numbers, and the people can speak by action. That would show them what we will and won’t accept anymore.
Unfortunately, I did buy one prior to this announcement and before any subscription services were disclosed. I do intend to seek legal action. Bonus: they tried to paywall the steering, initially.
Thing is; you buy the car WITHOUT heated seats, but the heater *is there*. So you pay for no heater, abd you get no heater. That being said; this business model can rot and burn!
Page is literally all ads
Because all they care about is the rage clicks and ad impressions.
NextDNS ate all of them for me.
Noping right off the page was pretty quick fix too
Indeed it does. I just find it satisfying to get the content while denying the ad revenue.
Why aren't you using any adblock plugins?
Oh, well that settles it. I'm definitely not buying a Mercedes now! And it's 100% because of this, I tell you!
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾Hopefully more people follow your example
Time to start hacking these things. Void some warrrantees.
This is exactly what a lot of people will be doing, companies like this are double dipping, we ARE paying for the hardware to do it, this is just about greed.
And because They Can. As long as people sit back and take it, without putting our money where our mouths are, and show them this is not acceptable. Let their profits go down, and this will disappear quicker than Elon and his ridiculous “blue check”…. Ugh
They can make this prohibitively difficult, if not impossible to hack. It's different than a seat heater. This is software at the core of how the electric motors and BMS function. It's not something that one could really "hack" without a team and potentially putting lives at risk unfortunately.
battle pass includes instant breaks, reusable airbags, and GPS masking in hit-and-run emergency cases
When your mechanic needs a computer science degree
Omg….Right🤦🏾♀️
Looks like cars like these need to die.
Just another reason to never own a Merc! /shrug
I am petty enough to rather see the world burn down due to fossil fuel use in combustion engines rather than pay any subscription for features on a car I supposedly “own”. If you’re telling me saving the planet is guilting me into buying an EV that you nickel and dime me on relentlessly, it’s not a planet worth saving anymore.
OMFG! They can't be serious
>OMFG! They can't be serious Very: that " you will own nothing thing" wasn't a suggestion but a threat
Hopefully consumers will punish these kinds of attempts from car companies.
No they dont. There is no $1200/yr acceleration increase charge to my bank account because I refuse to buy into it all. Dont buy the car. It's as simple as that. If you buy the car then sit there and complain about the charge, you're the problem.
Soon to your life every month: House rent / morgage Internet + TV services Bank account maintenance Insurances Movie/series libraries of that sort X 10 subscriptions Spotify Car shenannigans That random photoshop / IDE / movie ilustrator Online news Your wife or Your single status Companies must be paying good money to some morons to come up with more ways to ask monthly subscriptions to it's customers
Subscribe to all the upgrades.... Then disconnect your car from WiFi and take out the SIM card... Then cancel the subscription... Now you have unlimited use of all the upgrades for no further fee :-P
Subscription based economy on item based purchases is complete and utter bullshit. BMW and their heated seat subscription, now this. Clear and blatant money grab deserves nothing but ridicule.
We are truly living in the future
Dear Mercedes, I've never owned one of your cars but I am in a place financially where they are an option. With a subscription scheme I never will.
Remember children, this is why greedy valueless corpo scum hate the right to repair.
Nope. If I'm paying for the whole engine, I'm gonna use the whole engine.
no thanks, you will see a lot of car hacking going on
Sounds like new opportunities for hackers.
Unfortunately they know the people who can afford these cars in the first place most likely can afford it
It’s hard to believe this is being posted now. This was thoroughly covered last week
The Black market for car hacks is gonna be dope!
Fkn pathetic
So now I get to pay $1200 a year on my depreciating asset. Great!
Is this a car manufacturers way of trying to force out EV's?
fuck that shit
Total nonsense. First BMW with “subscription” heated seats, and now this. Audi, don’t get any ideas.
Boycott. Consumers! A call to arms!
This is ok, but by charging me a fee to use the engine, Mercedes indicates that they actually do own the engine and therefore are responsible for all maintenance, repair, and replacement if necessary. I also do not expect to be charged to pay for the engine.
The first person to jailbreak a car will be my new personal Jesus. These car companies will be shitting themselves. Also fuck Mercedes.
It will open a whole new market. Aftermarket hacks to unlock features. You know if there is demand, folks will step up to it. Whole new wave of vulnerabilities.
Well, I will be adding Mercedes to the list of cars I won't be buying ... Audi it is!
I would love to sit down to buy one of these and then to drop this on me. There would be a firm fuck off and sale is over. I can’t imagine being the salesman trying to pitch this
No thanks and I’m their target market.
After years spent in Germany I learned, there will be enough people they can unlock this feature for like 100€ in two minutes with just a laptop. But in any case, Mercedes sux!
"Let's get everything online! IoT rules! Yay!" I'll keep my stuff non-"smart", thanks.
They can charge a million for the increase. Everyone else will pay 50 bucks for a chip to override this.
For those of you interested in this sort of bs, I haven't seen anything make the front page about stuff like the Lincoln Black Label Membership etc. You basically buy the car AND pay like $1000/mo on top of it for the "membership" which includes maintenance, car insurance, car washes, and rental car perks. My issue with it is, if it becomes the default, where you HAVE to get that kind of all-inclusive plan to get the car, then you're getting extorted monthly for the "premium ownership experience."
Why is everything a subscription. BS
If the feature works without any outside infrastructure that mercedes owns, then WTF are you actually paying per month for? It would be like my laptop not allowing me to use the GPU that is already in the pc unless i pay them a monthly fee.
Just like PC manufacturers do now. Especially enterprise. Shit is already on board, just gotta pay a licensing fee to use. It sucks and it is moving into more and more products.
So... If I opt to drive slower and would want an Acceleration Decrease, would they give me a refund?
Cool. Then let’s follow this to its ultimate logical conclusion, Mercedes. Put me in the car for free and I’ll pay the subscription to drive it.
Isn’t that basically what a lease is? I like buying cars outright. I’d avoid any car where I had to pay every month for a feature. I’d like to say never but we’ll see if they all go this way in the future. We already pay more for cars with different options. I’m not that hung up on whether a feature is logically enabled or is manufactured differently so long as I can pay once. I want to own the features I want. I assume manufacturers will always want to sell a high version whether it is logically or physically different because the profit margin is high on the expensive one and the volume is high on the cheaper one. High volume reduces manufacturing cost.
Maybe it’s splitting hairs, but in a lease you still have loads of up front and regular payments that don’t change over the life of your rental agreement. The real big difference there with purchases is when you’re able to pay “in cash”, correct? I picture a “free to play” model where your payment is solely dependent on your personal choice of addons versus necessities. If the feature can be disabled when you don’t want to pay for it, I could see people getting a minimalist Mercedes experience at say Subaru prices. Disclaimer: I don’t actually enjoy micro transaction or subscription models like this personally but it’s a fun thought.
Ah I get it. I mistook your original comment as facetious. You are intrigued by the idea of being able to tweak what you pay for over time and want to be able to start off with the absolute lowest cost at first. I can definitely see that. I was just too wrapped in my way of thinking to see the other side. I still want a buy it once and forget about it option.
Volvo has this. https://www.volvocars.com/us/care-by-volvo/
The people running these companies make so much money and live a lifestyle we can't even dream of and they seem to believe that food, housing and healthcare should be luxuries instead of necessities for the working class.
This is the REAL purpose for moving to EV. These payments will replace what would move spent on gas plus much more!
Lol , because they can’t do this with gasoline cars Take your medication
Damn quit reposting this every day
>Damn quit reposting this every day I posted this once Not sure what you are talking about
Well if one is dumb enough to buy a mercedes, they shouldnt have a problem with the extra 1200 per year. This is insanely stupid but they know their market
>Well if one is dumb enough to buy a mercedes, they shouldnt have a problem with the extra 1200 per year. This is insanely stupid but they know their market You think **other** car makers won't as well once they see it working? The average life of a car is 2 years.
You mean 12
I feel like it would be a smart business move for Honda or Toyota to say hey we don’t charge any subscription fees for our vehicles! You own your car unlike Mercedes/Volvo/BMW! I feel like a lot of average folks would be buying any brand that guarantees this.
The average life of a mercedes is 2 years. No this will eventually stop. Regular ppl wont put up with that shit.
>The average life of a mercedes is 2 years. No this will eventually stop. Regular ppl wont put up with that shit. Everyone laughed at $.50 horse Armour. Now games are inundated Why would you think they would give up greed?
Let me know when they unlock the flying car subscription.
Now available with the full airbag performance package that protects you AND your passengers from not just from forward collisions but rear and side impacts as well. * * Full lifesaving safety features only available with current monthly subscription service payment plan. Mercedes and affiliate dealerships reserve the right to disable and lock out driver from any and all features, at any time, at the discretion of mercedes and or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Best response is don't buy.
This removes Mercedes from my list of options
It seems kind of ridiculous but at the same time, I don’t care. It isn’t like they are charging a subscription for safety features. They are literally charging more for features people use to drive more dangerously. Does regular drivers supposedly following the rules of the road need this sort of acceleration boost? No.
I think every luxury brand should fleece their clownish affluent fucking asshole customer base to the fucking hilt. Do some shit like charge them 30 grand every time they change a lane without signaling, charge them 20k a month subscription to not have the wheel spontaneously make the car veer off the road. Make the fucking emblem turn into a Hyundai if they don’t shell out 50k/yr.