Last year, BMW required a monthly fee for the seat heating to work. Now lay Mercedes after and restricts the engine power for everyone without a subscription. The “feature” is sold in the USA as “acceleration increase”.
The electric cars of the Mercedes EQ series are affected. The upgrade costs 60 Dollar (54 euros) per month for the EQE models as well 90 Dollar (82 euros) for the EQS models. Alternatively, you can also sign up annual subscription for 600 or 900 dollars. At prices starting at $75,000 (EQE) or $104,000 (EQS), it’s a real bargain.
Go from 0 to 100 faster in one second
Mercedes initially gave the price in its online shop 1.200 Dollar a year, but has since corrected it downwards. There is also the option of “acceleration increase” by $1,950 and $2,950, respectively unlock indefinitely.
Mercedes promises that the subscription will improve management 20 to 24 percent. This shortens the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h 0.8 to 1 second. The overview looks like this:
- Mercedes-EQ EQE 350 (from 288 hp to 349 hp/0-100 km/h in 5.1 instead of 6 seconds)
- Mercedes-EQ EQE 350 SUV (from 288 hp to 349 hp/0-100 km/h in 5.2 instead of 6.2 seconds)
- Mercedes-EQ EQS 450 (from 355 hp to 443 hp/0-100 km/h in 4.5 instead of 5.3 seconds)
- Mercedes-EQ EQS 450 SUV (from 355 hp to 443 hp/0-100 km/h in 4.9 instead of 5.8 seconds)
Features are artificially clipped
It is currently not known whether Mercedes will also introduce this subscription model in Austria. In any case, consumer protection associations criticize such an approach. From a technical point of view, no additional function is purchased, only one that is already in the car is activated. In this case, the electric motor can bring the power from the start – it is only trimmed by software. This barrier is only lifted with a subscription. At BMW, too, the seat heating is already in the cars. The corresponding subscription only releases the software lock.
BMW and Mercedes aren’t the only automakers to artificially limit the functionality of their vehicles. Also Tesla charged an activation fee of $3,250 for older models of its Model S vehicles in order to be able to use the full capacity of the battery. The car manufacturer Polestar also sells a “performance boost” on his Polestar 2 for $1,195. You get 68 more horsepower for that.
