[blackwasp]

Last year, Mercedes-Benz introduced a new infotainment system called the Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX). The German carmaker is now offering an in-car purchase option via the inbuilt Mercedes Me connect service.

Purchasable content includes digital radio, smartphone connectivity like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, live traffic information, vehicle monitoring as well as navigation. The car must be connected to Mercedes Me and have a working internet connection to use this service. This facility will be available to customers who forgot to select these options while booking the car and 2nd or 3rd or later owners who want the latest technology.

Customers can buy these optional features / services via the Mercedes Me Store in the infotainment menu or the Online Store. Mercedes Me is now available in 45 countries including Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, which were added recently. Depending on the location, different applications would be available to customers.

It will initially be offered on the A-Class, B-Class and the GLE.









Link to the Team-BHP News

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Last year, Mercedes-Benz introduced a new infotainment system called the Mercedes-Benz User Experience. The German carmaker is now offering an in-car purchase option via the inbuilt Mercedes Me connect service.

Two hundred and sixty seven GBP, i.e Rs.25,000, to download and activate screen mirroring and phone pairing software to the Mercedes Benz?

I hope they realize that other car makers give this out free of cost in cars costing 1/3rd the price. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay came out so fast and the integration into commoners cars was done even faster, the Germans have NO CLUE on what to do anymore when it comes to car connectivity, they are puzzled if they should make their own version of screen-mirroring tech at additional cost which won't work, or do they carry on with their proprietary infotainment technology like iDrive, Comand, or MMI, or do they just re-hash an existing CarPlay or Android Auto technology and still charge a bomb for it?

I know luxury is a money game, but this is kinda out there.

[hema4saran]

Another genius idea by Mercedes. Actually they are following the footsteps of BMW USA. BMW USA customers needs to subscribe to Apple Car play. When I last heard, it was free for first year and you need to pay $80/year from second year onwards. They are already minting money in terms of service and now this came up. If we confront them, they will tell that this is Mercedes/BMW and this is how we operate and we are for elite class only.

I hope Audi will not do this. When my colleague bought a Q5 in summer this year, it came with Apple car play standard.

[Venkat_Figo]

Mercedes is probably thinking anyone who spends 50 lakhs & above on a ride wont flinch spending a few thousands on software which is given as part of the package in cars costing less than 1/4th of the price.

[Tassem]

I just hope this is not paving the way for in-car ads.

Driving down the highway at a tad over the limit and an ad pops up

"Would you like to install a radar detection upgrade for $49.99?"

"No."

Flash!

"Dang! Ok i'll install it then."

"Install successful. Your Mercedes will now detect speed cameras and radars. Would you like to be alerted about these detections for $99.99?"

"Wait, what!?"

You hear a faint german chuckle from your $2000 Audio upgrade.

Ze Germans.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Two hundred and sixty seven GBP, i.e Rs.25,000, to download and activate screen mirroring and phone pairing software to the Mercedes Benz?

I hope they realize that other car makers give this out free of cost in cars costing 1/3rd the price.

Well said! Luxury car makers sometimes get penny wise & pound foolish. The bean counters clearly don't have a clue about what "true luxury" means.

BMW wants to charge me 10,000 bucks in India every time I want to update my maps. No, thank you. My Google Maps is free and far more accurate.

Originally Posted by Venkat_Figo

Mercedes is probably thinking anyone who spends 50 lakhs & above on a ride wont flinch spending a few thousands on software which is given as part of the package in cars costing less than 1/4th of the price.

Not really. Rich folk are very, very calculating. Remember, that's how they accumulated wealth in the first place . No one got rich by wasting all of his / her money.

[the_skyliner]

This is going from bad to worst. A couple of years ago I was disappointed to learn that Merc wanted me to pay 45k additional for navigation card (?) when the competition was offering digital cockpit features (A4).

The prices of all the shown stuff will be definitely few folds higher for India version.

[theredliner]

Things have started going the video game DLC way where everything already comes bundled with the original package you buy, but you need to pay more to 'activate' some small things that should have been offered as part of the standard game. This is really shameless of Mercedes.

[Venkat_Figo]

Originally Posted by GTO

Not really. Rich folk are very, very calculating. Remember, that's how they accumulated wealth in the first place . No one got rich by wasting all of his / her money.

Yet these manufacturers try out all these stunts, BMW charging 10k for updating maps is ridiculous. Like you said, we have Google Maps & your love for Android is well known