Mercedes-Benz to introduce acceleration subscription fee

lestat
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lestat
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63743597


For an annual cost of $1,200 (£991) excluding tax, the company will enable some of its vehicles to accelerate from 0-60mph a second faster.
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plowboy
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plowboy 11/24/2022 12:22pm
11/24/2022 12:22pm
Lol...so the hackers will soon disable yer merk for ransom.
Muttly
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Muttly 11/24/2022 12:38pm
11/24/2022 12:38pm
plowboy wrote:
Lol...so the hackers will soon disable yer merk for ransom.
The problem is they’re making it a “Federal Crime”, to hack an ECU. More encryption than an iPhone.

SEE ARE125
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SEE ARE125 11/24/2022 1:51pm
11/24/2022 1:51pm
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff for a set price and that was the end of it? Seems we’re moving more toward not owning anything and leasing everything.
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tcannon521 11/24/2022 2:38pm
11/24/2022 2:38pm Edited Date/Time 11/24/2022 2:41pm
SEE ARE125 wrote:
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff...
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff for a set price and that was the end of it? Seems we’re moving more toward not owning anything and leasing everything.
Corporations are going after residual revenue. The old days of making money off the product only are long gone I’m afraid.

Side note, most automakers lose money on the vehicle transaction. Before the Covid boom, this was becoming a major issue.
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early
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early 11/24/2022 4:07pm
11/24/2022 4:07pm
Who needs planned obsolescence when you can just charge a monthly fee. At least everyone will know you are rich enough to pay for it.
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Muttly
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Muttly 11/24/2022 4:35pm
11/24/2022 4:35pm
SEE ARE125 wrote:
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff...
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff for a set price and that was the end of it? Seems we’re moving more toward not owning anything and leasing everything.
tcannon521 wrote:
Corporations are going after residual revenue. The old days of making money off the product only are long gone I’m afraid. Side note, most automakers lose...
Corporations are going after residual revenue. The old days of making money off the product only are long gone I’m afraid.

Side note, most automakers lose money on the vehicle transaction. Before the Covid boom, this was becoming a major issue.
Why do you think Ford and Chevy quit building cars?
Jeremy A.K.
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Jeremy A.K. 11/24/2022 4:59pm
11/24/2022 4:59pm
SEE ARE125 wrote:
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff...
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff for a set price and that was the end of it? Seems we’re moving more toward not owning anything and leasing everything.
tcannon521 wrote:
Corporations are going after residual revenue. The old days of making money off the product only are long gone I’m afraid. Side note, most automakers lose...
Corporations are going after residual revenue. The old days of making money off the product only are long gone I’m afraid.

Side note, most automakers lose money on the vehicle transaction. Before the Covid boom, this was becoming a major issue.
Muttly wrote:
Why do you think Ford and Chevy quit building cars?
Because nobody was buying them. Their SUVs are fuel efficient enough that people weren't buying cars to save on gas.
Chris99Flannery 11/24/2022 6:50pm
11/24/2022 6:50pm Edited Date/Time 11/24/2022 6:51pm
Seriously people needed pulling into the streets and Executed. Extreme measures for extreme dystopianism.
Sheep have 1 set of teeth, enough to bite!
Scary world coming full of misery. Taxed to dependence.
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zehn
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zehn 11/24/2022 7:04pm
11/24/2022 7:04pm
Chris99Flannery wrote:
Seriously people needed pulling into the streets and Executed. Extreme measures for extreme dystopianism. Sheep have 1 set of teeth, enough to bite! Scary world coming...
Seriously people needed pulling into the streets and Executed. Extreme measures for extreme dystopianism.
Sheep have 1 set of teeth, enough to bite!
Scary world coming full of misery. Taxed to dependence.
What
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LungButter
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LungButter 11/24/2022 7:45pm
11/24/2022 7:45pm
I’ll probably have the current pick up I’m driving forever if this is the future.

It’s a 2017 and is complicated enough as it is.

Hopefully I can get parts for it to keep it going a long time.
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lestat
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lestat 11/24/2022 7:48pm
11/24/2022 7:48pm
Devils advocate … is it really any different than paying more for a factory edition ?
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Chatmore
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Chatmore 11/24/2022 8:11pm
11/24/2022 8:11pm
Yes it is Because that would be a flat one time fee and not ongoing. Seems silly to explain that.
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Chris99Flannery 11/24/2022 8:39pm
11/24/2022 8:39pm Edited Date/Time 11/24/2022 8:40pm
Chris99Flannery wrote:
Seriously people needed pulling into the streets and Executed. Extreme measures for extreme dystopianism. Sheep have 1 set of teeth, enough to bite! Scary world coming...
Seriously people needed pulling into the streets and Executed. Extreme measures for extreme dystopianism.
Sheep have 1 set of teeth, enough to bite!
Scary world coming full of misery. Taxed to dependence.
zehn wrote:
What
Really! You don’t see the way the middle class down is being milked, and positioned to be enslaved to this bullshit that’s happening? It starts small but there are people who make these decisions.

The people in position to better society who choose greed or worse.. well I think they should get treated harshly.
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Muttly
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Muttly 11/24/2022 8:48pm
11/24/2022 8:48pm
tcannon521 wrote:
Corporations are going after residual revenue. The old days of making money off the product only are long gone I’m afraid. Side note, most automakers lose...
Corporations are going after residual revenue. The old days of making money off the product only are long gone I’m afraid.

Side note, most automakers lose money on the vehicle transaction. Before the Covid boom, this was becoming a major issue.
Muttly wrote:
Why do you think Ford and Chevy quit building cars?
Jeremy A.K. wrote:
Because nobody was buying them. Their SUVs are fuel efficient enough that people weren't buying cars to save on gas.
There was no markup in the cars. $247 from invoice to MSRP, on a Ford Focus. About the same in Holdback. You negotiate a little and all the profit just got sucked out.

That’s why they’re trying to suck you in to extended warranties, service contracts, GAP, etc;.
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TheGetFresh 11/24/2022 8:51pm
11/24/2022 8:51pm
My 2015 sprinter feels painfully analog at times, but then news bits like this get me feeling pretty alright.
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Boomslang 11/24/2022 9:37pm
11/24/2022 9:37pm
SEE ARE125 wrote:
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff...
What is with all this subscription bullshit? Everywhere you turn a subscription for this or that. What happened to the days when you just bought stuff for a set price and that was the end of it? Seems we’re moving more toward not owning anything and leasing everything.
Just another way to shaft the consumer.

Here in SA we have Sugar Tax...the price of all sweets and cold drinks went up.

The logic was that, over the long term, the sugar tax would reduce sugar consumption levels, thereby decreasing the prevalence of diseases.

Our Government is isways looking for ways to fill their coffers.

I've always liked Mercedes but not so much when I saw this.
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lestat
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lestat 11/24/2022 11:31pm
11/24/2022 11:31pm Edited Date/Time 11/24/2022 11:32pm
Chatmore wrote:
Yes it is Because that would be a flat one time fee and not ongoing. Seems silly to explain that.
Both are a choice to pay more for a little extra performance . They only differ in method of payment .
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ns503
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ns503 11/25/2022 4:05am
11/25/2022 4:05am
Chris99Flannery wrote:
Seriously people needed pulling into the streets and Executed. Extreme measures for extreme dystopianism. Sheep have 1 set of teeth, enough to bite! Scary world coming...
Seriously people needed pulling into the streets and Executed. Extreme measures for extreme dystopianism.
Sheep have 1 set of teeth, enough to bite!
Scary world coming full of misery. Taxed to dependence.
zehn wrote:
What
Chris99Flannery wrote:
Really! You don’t see the way the middle class down is being milked, and positioned to be enslaved to this bullshit that’s happening? It starts small...
Really! You don’t see the way the middle class down is being milked, and positioned to be enslaved to this bullshit that’s happening? It starts small but there are people who make these decisions.

The people in position to better society who choose greed or worse.. well I think they should get treated harshly.
I don't think it's the middle class down who might want to pay per month for some extra giddyup in their Mercedes.
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Chatmore
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Chatmore 11/25/2022 5:56am
11/25/2022 5:56am
lestat wrote:
Both are a choice to pay more for a little extra performance . They only differ in method of payment .
Again, one is ongoing and ridiculous not to mention controlled.
tcannon521 11/25/2022 6:36am
11/25/2022 6:36am Edited Date/Time 11/25/2022 6:39am
Muttly wrote:
Why do you think Ford and Chevy quit building cars?
Jeremy A.K. wrote:
Because nobody was buying them. Their SUVs are fuel efficient enough that people weren't buying cars to save on gas.
Muttly wrote:
There was no markup in the cars. $247 from invoice to MSRP, on a Ford Focus. About the same in Holdback. You negotiate a little and...
There was no markup in the cars. $247 from invoice to MSRP, on a Ford Focus. About the same in Holdback. You negotiate a little and all the profit just got sucked out.

That’s why they’re trying to suck you in to extended warranties, service contracts, GAP, etc;.
GM is still losing money on almost every vehicle they sell in America. They make money on each vehicle in China which offsets the losses in America. GM has a similar business model to Tesla in China.
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blusmbl
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blusmbl 11/25/2022 8:31am
11/25/2022 8:31am
tcannon521 wrote:
GM is still losing money on almost every vehicle they sell in America. They make money on each vehicle in China which offsets the losses in...
GM is still losing money on almost every vehicle they sell in America. They make money on each vehicle in China which offsets the losses in America. GM has a similar business model to Tesla in China.
Trucks are profitable, the small cars and SUV's are not. Same with the EV and autonomous technology- that isn't profitable, but the funding is coming from the trucks that are sold.

The subscription model is something that Tesla was a pioneer of, like others have mentioned it's a great way to make residual income. The subscription technology is even happening on motorcycles now - KTM is doing it on their adventure models.
borg
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borg 11/25/2022 8:49am
11/25/2022 8:49am
Autocad switched over to subscription only. Pay by the month or year. Miss a payment and lose access to your files.
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Jeremy A.K.
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Jeremy A.K. 11/25/2022 10:53am
11/25/2022 10:53am
borg wrote:
Autocad switched over to subscription only. Pay by the month or year. Miss a payment and lose access to your files.
Yep ,There's a good reason fusion 360 is cloud based . Companies making payments on CNC equipment can be locked out if they miss payments as well.
early
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early 11/25/2022 11:17am
11/25/2022 11:17am
borg wrote:
Autocad switched over to subscription only. Pay by the month or year. Miss a payment and lose access to your files.
Jeremy A.K. wrote:
Yep ,There's a good reason fusion 360 is cloud based . Companies making payments on CNC equipment can be locked out if they miss payments as...
Yep ,There's a good reason fusion 360 is cloud based . Companies making payments on CNC equipment can be locked out if they miss payments as well.
All software is a subscription now and it all sucks
Chatmore
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Chatmore 11/25/2022 11:43am
11/25/2022 11:43am
I agree
Chris99Flannery 11/25/2022 12:23pm
11/25/2022 12:23pm
zehn wrote:
What
Chris99Flannery wrote:
Really! You don’t see the way the middle class down is being milked, and positioned to be enslaved to this bullshit that’s happening? It starts small...
Really! You don’t see the way the middle class down is being milked, and positioned to be enslaved to this bullshit that’s happening? It starts small but there are people who make these decisions.

The people in position to better society who choose greed or worse.. well I think they should get treated harshly.
ns503 wrote:
I don't think it's the middle class down who might want to pay per month for some extra giddyup in their Mercedes.
Agree, but it starts somewhere, and I bet all companies are looking at this subscription thing. Wont be the last you hear of it
jchek779
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jchek779 11/25/2022 3:45pm
11/25/2022 3:45pm
Jeremy A.K. wrote:
Yep ,There's a good reason fusion 360 is cloud based . Companies making payments on CNC equipment can be locked out if they miss payments as...
Yep ,There's a good reason fusion 360 is cloud based . Companies making payments on CNC equipment can be locked out if they miss payments as well.
....and now if you miss a payment they can shut down your car.
or even better -
.... Green New Deal - If you disagree with their narrative they can shut down your car
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Falcon
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Falcon 11/29/2022 3:48pm
11/29/2022 3:48pm

Dear Mercedes: please note that I am no longer interested in any of your vehicles. 

 

I have been a fan for 20 years. Owned one of your cars. Like some of the new designs. I like your involvement in F1. However, I will not pay a subscription fee to operate personal property which I own. You just lost a potential (very likely, even) sale. 

str8line
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str8line 11/29/2022 3:59pm
11/29/2022 3:59pm

First I heard of this subscription model was for BMW seat-heaters. If you order your own car it comes free but if not you have to pay a subscription.

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