Mercedes has locked faster acceleration behind a $1,200 per year subscription
Charisa Bossinakis
Featured Image Credit: Helen Sessions / Alamy Stock Photo. VDWI Automotive / Alamy Stock Photo
Mercedes wants its customers to pay USD $1,200 (AUD $1,777 or £992) a year to access faster acceleration.
If you feel the need for speed, you'll have to pay up.
The German luxury car brand has introduced the ‘Acceleration Increase’, which will shave off your mission to get from 0mph to 60mph by about 0.8 to 0.9 seconds, according to The Verge.
Lawdy, what a difference.
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The optional extra will be available in all DYNAMIC SELECT drive programs, according to their website.
While the new acceleration feature does not require any physical upgrade to the engine, this 20-24 per cent performance improvement is locked behind a pricey paywall.
Additionally, the feature is only available for the Mercedes-EQ EQE and Mercedes-EQ EQS electric car models.
Mercedes limiting vehicle performance might just be a creative ploy to boost revenue amid plummeting car sales.
According to Fortune, European car sales this year were at their lowest since 1996 due to supply-chain issues as demands take a nose dive.
The outlet reported that the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) revealed that car sales in the European Union were down 15.4 per cent from last year.
With less than 900,000 vehicles sold that month - it’s the worst June for new car sales since 1996.
They also revealed that the major European car markets that had suffered were Italy, France, Spain and Germany. In Germany alone, sales fell by a staggering 18.1 per cent.
However, Mercedes isn’t the only company introducing a paywall to access extra features.
Earlier this year, BMW sparked outrage as they began charging customers USD $18.15 (AUD $26.86 or £15) a month for heated seats.
Other features behind the paywall include steering wheel heating, adaptive suspension and the option to record footage on a vehicle's cameras.
This is wild — BMW is now selling a monthly subscription service for heated seats in your car.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) July 12, 2022
• Monthly fee: $18
• Annual fee: $180
The car will come with all the necessary components, but payment is needed to remove a software block.
Welcome to microtransaction hell.
In a statement, BMW revealed that the features aren't behind a paywall if purchased when the car is ordered.
However, they come at a price if the customer decides they want them after their initial purchase.
A spokesperson for BMW told Sky News: "This can be helpful for new customers should their circumstances change after their purchase. For secondary owners, this functionality is particularly useful, as they now have the opportunity to add features the original owner did not choose.
"Customers can enable all hardware features for a one-time payment or if preferable, choose an annual or monthly subscription, depending on the feature.
"This enables drivers to experiment with a feature by purchasing a short-term trial before committing to a purchase."