Car manufacturers adopt subscriptions, whether customers love them or not, often pushing beyond what most of us find acceptable. BMW tried to charge monthly costs for heated seats, but users have not bitten. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Mercedes-Benz always offers an increase in acceleration for its equalization models, which initially cost $ 1,200 per year, and it is an idea that Volkswagen borrows for the electric ID in the United Kingdom.
Auto Express He first indicated that the automotive manufacturer’s consumption site on the British market lists the ID.3 pro and pro S as only 201 horses instead of the complete production of 228 horsepower. The small print indicates that the owners can “activate the optional power upgrade for costs”. VW offers owners the option of a free one month trial, a monthly or annual subscription, or the possibility of buying it all the life of the car.
These costs are: £ 16.50 per month, £ 165 per year, or £ 649, or $ 22.36, $ 211.41 and $ 879.52, respectively, at today’s exchange rate. This is a strange decision that does not make much financial sense for a buyer on a car that costs around $ 50,000 to start. The additional cost is small enough to be hidden in the PDSF, and something that most people would probably be ready to pay in advance.
But this payment wall looks like an unnecessary obstacle designed for Nickel-And-Dime customers who could rent rather than buy. Automotive News Europe At the end of 2023, said more than 40% of new lease registrations in the United Kingdom were electric vehicles, so someone who keeps the car for a few years could save a few hundred dollars.

It does not seem to be worth it, and fortunately, VW does not do this in America, but it reveals where the industry is and what he thinks. Car manufacturers are looking for new sources of income for a complex and costly period of industry, and a recurring income of thousands or millions of drivers is attractive.
One might think that spending tens of thousands of dollars would guarantee that you can buy and fully own a complete vehicle, but this is no longer the case when the software is between the user and the real hardware. Software licenses and license agreements for end users restrict property while the copyright law of the digital millennium dictates what a user can and cannot do with this license.
In 2023, Mazda sent a letter of cease-disaster to a developer who had made integrations that connect Mazda vehicles to Home Assistant, open-source home software. The automaker has accused the developer of writing code which has violated his “copyright”, which has provided features similar to that offered by Mazda via its applications. Although DMCA allows owners to modify what they have, it is illegal to distribute the software or the tools to do so, especially if it violates copyright, and today’s cars are filled with copyright protected software.
American car manufacturers are already arguing before the courts that customers do not fully have the vehicles they have paid, pointing to software and software licenses in their attempt to restrict laws on the right of reparation. While car manufacturers integrate more software in cars, electric vehicles or ice, this will facilitate the power of payment harvesting, safety characteristics or access to other hardware features, because you cannot have the code protected by the copyright of someone else, and the British experience of VW should be a red alert for car buyers everywhere.
Sources:
Auto Express,, Automobile news,, Ars Technica,, Volkswagen UK