[throttlehead]

I am honestly surprised that premium brands are resorting to business models akin with low-cost brands (budget airlines, self serve hotels etc.) but continue to charge premium base prices. Paying a fee to unlock additional 5.5 degrees is such a cheap customer experience. I hope this fails, fails miserably and they are taken to the cleaners for this one (along with the b-school grad who modelled this on their Excel).

[Turbojc]

Originally Posted by kamilharis

I love Mercedes but I sincerely hope that someone takes them to the court for this foolishness of restricting the user from using a hardware, for which he had already paid during the car purchase!

Technically, even though the car may be equipped with the requisite hardware, the potential buyer would be paying no more than they would for a car without it, since the cost of the part would have been subsidized by the higher economies of scale. With the subscription model, it is the software that is being commoditized, not the hardware.

[nishsingh]

From the original article :

"If you don't like the subscription model, you still have the option to buy the extra ex works permanently. "

I think that's good enough for me.

But yes, I hate the subscription model. I am already suffering from this wherein the "premium" wifi router I have purchased has additional features that are available as a subscription. Unfortunately, despite having paid for the annual subscription, the features are not enabled, and the customer support has been hopeless.

I would hate to have such things happen to me with my premium car.

[dbs09]

Well I don't see nothing wrong with this approach.

Come to think of it, OEMs have been using adopting this approach for long, and we as consumers have been accustomed to this. Things like -

1) Same engine giving different performance figures under a "different state of tune". One could argue he / she has paid for the same "hard-ware", why not expect the same performance figures as in another higher segment / higher value car

2) Personal experience - the "ambient lights" in the G-20 3-series we get in India (at least the 320D) has very limited and boring colour options to select from. The same car in other countries has much better options. One could get them here as well, as long as you are open to get your car coded.

Now whether one pays a one-time higher cost upfront for higher variant / expensive car OR pays an annuity - those things will continue to evolve.

[viXit]

I'm no expert in economics,
I don't know whether this will be helpful or harmful for the customer's pockets.

But one thing I know for sure, is that this is terrible for the company's image. And that negates any profit these cheapskates make over such subscriptions/

[cloudno19]

This seems like a trend that was set by Tesla (for their Autopilot), followed by the connected car feature and now being extended to more features.

Companies (in general, not limited to Automobile) would always find ways to add to their revenue streams and the most profitable way to do this is to find ways to milk your existing customers.

Fortunately/Unfortunately, it's also true the world is moving towards a subscription model as it tends to generally offer more perceivable value in comparison to paying upfront, when you look at the flexibility of only paying when you consume.

While the above statement sounds good for certain industries and services, it may not directly reflect/offer similar (perceived) value to end customer and at times (as in this case- Mercedes) may come across as cheap (cheated) way to make some buck.

With regards to Auto industry, I would still be happy to pay subscription for something that needs investment in continuous R&D to continue to offer me more value/quality, which involves some continuous investment of human resource to facilitate a service or any other service (RSA, etc), but of course not on something which is simply being already paid for by the customer, and you are expected to pay to that keep the feature active (not acceptable Mercedes).

That being said, most of these premium brands would get away with such gimmicks as their customers may not think much about such subscription (cost) and would pay such charges considering it as a small addon to their heavy annual maintenance package. It's only the value conscious market segment that may find it difficult to be onboarded to such ideas.

[Wanderer]

If things mature in this manner, in the near future one might use 'Cheat-codes' to avail various functionalities pre-locked by the manufacturer. Just like playing computer games in our childhood.

[heydj]

I might sound naive but what will this turn achieve? What are the benefits of this? Also if its really a cool feature then why limit to one car and not give in all cars?

However dont like the subscription fees concept for premium brand. Whats next?

I have a greedy idea for car companies- Buy a car and then to use different brand names pay a fees. Imagine bought a basic sedan will all bells and whistles and a software that allows to update brand name OTA and that will get displayed all over the car along with color change. For Merc look pay 1000 bucks, BMW look 900 bucks etc. Crazy.

[ashking101]

This is really interesting... it is mentioned in the below article that this 10 degree system is an OTA update after the sale.

https://www.autoblog.com/2021/07/25/...-subscription/

Forgive me for being a novice and hence asking this question - If an OTA update can enable/disable a functionality in a car, then will someone be able to decode/crack it for it to be enabled in FNGs, just like we jailbreak iPads ?

[dicor]

I do not appreciate this move for multiple reasons.

1. Customer has already paid for that hardware. Why are we restricting customer to use that? I would have been happy if company takes that amount upfront and upgrade hardware.

2. Over 3 years, customer will develop a habit of living with that additional driving dynamics, all of sudden, subscription expires and then there is a learning curve. I am sure MB will be wise enough to not deactivate the feature while vehicle is on move and will render sufficient warnings before disabling this feature.

3. OTA updates can be dangerous. We all know how IT world functions. It is very common scene to introduce new bugs while fixing previous ones. What if they deploy a bug in ABS or front steering while deploying rear steer feature?

[amritpal2489]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

The first thing that came to my mind is... if the subscription expires in the middle of a U-turn, your Rs.1.25 Cr Benz will crab walk back home.

This is the funniest thing I have read in the whole day

On a serious note, who is stopping them from providing this as a optional feature or in the top trim. Moreover, people will start unlocking such things via their own methods.

[naikameya]

This seems like someone copying the idea from the Low-cost airline industry, where every small item is chargeable even web check-in is charged. While it works in other industries where a cost is incurred only when the extra option is purchased here there is no such thing.

Also, environmentally it is detrimental because you are manufacturing that hardware charging people for hardware when they don't want to use it. Also, my fuel efficiency will be low because I lug the weight. It will be another subscription to manage financially. And I will feel cheap in spite of buying a Mercedes. That is just more waste created.

Also, with so much software it will be a reality - Hey my car turned into a brick and I am stuck inside. If Boeing went cheap on 737 max software how much time will it take the auto industry?

[GoBlue]

Mercedes senior management/board members should be made to pay a subscription cost per flush of the commode.

And then one fine morning when the subscription runs out perhaps enlightenment shall be arrived at, and this unbecoming business strategy shall see a well deserved death.

[octane_100]

So from in-app purchases we are moving towards in-car purchases. Everyone loves their annuities!!
God forbid I forget to renew my steering wheel subscription and in the middle of a turn on the ghats, my steering gets locked , in the not too distant future!

[ashlok94]

I believe this is the car manufacturers way of keeping their revenue streams intact in the post-IC engine world. With a fraction of the moving parts of a petrol/Diesel engine, cars will be spending a lot less time in their authorised workshops for repairs.
A subscription based model, however “ludicrous” it may sound, is a means to make their product generate revenue in the post-sale period.