Mercedes plans to charge $1,200 per year for “Acceleration Increase” in its EVs; Volkswagen, Toyota, and GM have all trialed similar subscription-based features
Mercedes are charging $1200 a year for an “Acceleration Increase” — For a few years now some car companies …
KotakuLuke Plunkett
Context & Ripple Effects
Mercedes is extending a pattern already visible in BMW's paid unlocks for installed vehicle features: charging after purchase for capabilities the car can support. Volkswagen, Toyota, and GM have also trialed subscription-based features, making Mercedes' acceleration tier part of a broader automaker shift rather than a standalone experiment.
The subsequent rollback of BMW's hardware-feature subscription, covered in BMW's retreat from paid heated-seat activation, draws a useful line for Mercedes: recurring charges are more defensible when buyers perceive an ongoing software service rather than a withheld physical feature.
First-order effects
Mercedes EV buyers seeking the Acceleration Increase feature face a $1,200 annual charge, separating vehicle performance into a recurring purchase after the initial sale.
Mercedes gains a recurring-revenue option tied to a software-controlled performance setting rather than a new vehicle configuration.
Second-order effects
Volkswagen, Toyota, and GM must weigh whether their own feature trials can support comparable recurring pricing without triggering the backlash BMW encountered over hardware already fitted to cars.
The BMW reversal puts pressure on automakers to distinguish performance and software services from subscriptions that merely activate preinstalled equipment.
Third-order effects
If automakers sustain paid software tiers while abandoning hardware unlocks, vehicle monetization will increasingly depend on perceived ongoing digital value rather than on the presence of dormant physical components.
Subscription pricing will become a competitive variable in EV ownership: Tesla's later cut to its FSD subscription price illustrates how recurring software fees can be adjusted after launch, unlike a vehicle's upfront sticker price.
The trend: Automakers are testing post-sale EV revenue models, with the durable boundary likely to be between valued software services and fees to unlock hardware buyers believe they already own.
This is a really obnoxious trend that consumers should push against aggressively. https://twitter.com/...
@jkr_on_the_web
@jkr_on_the_web on x
What about a “Pay-per-emergency-braking” model? https://www.thedrive.com/...
@jachilli
Justin Achilli on x
I see now that I was ahead of my time years ago for offering the entire world a monthly “I won't kick you in the pants this month” subscription service. https://www.theverge.com/...
@mkbhd
Marques Brownlee on x
Microtransactions have come to destroy everything we enjoy https://twitter.com/...
@adetolaov
Tola on x
Recurring revenue (ARR) is coming to Car manufacturing. Mercedes locks faster acceleration behind a yearly $1,200 subscription. Basically, car brands will restrict built-in vehicle features to later sell as ongoing subscriptions. Video game features IRL https://www.theverge.com/.…
@starrburymike
Michael Starrbury on x
This is where we are headed. You're gonna need a subscription to do anything in your car. Want to connect your phone? $20 a month. Wanna go in reverse? That's an extra $300, please. https://www.autoblog.com/...
@tmartn
@tmartn on x
Mercedes has announced an ‘Acceleration Increase’ subscription for it's EV's For $1,200 a year you get a new drive mode with increased performance, torque and faster 0-60 times https://twitter.com/...
@ennolenze
Enno Lenze on x
If you head to Mercedes' online store, you will find an “Acceleration Increase” subscription service for all EQ models. According to Mercedes, the yearly fee increases the maximum horsepower and torque of the car, while also increasing overall performance. https://www.thedrive.co…
@dougdemuro
Doug DeMuro on x
Controversial opinion alert: I actually think the new Mercedes-Benz subscription-based power increase is pretty reasonable. People want to hate subscription-based car features, but did anyone do the math? (1/5) https://www.thedrive.com/...
@davenewworld_2
@davenewworld_2 on x
Mercedes is adding a subscription fee to their electric vehicles that will increase horsepower and torque. It's happening. Late-stage capitalism is going to have people paying a monthly fee to improve the performance of a car they already bought. https://twitter.com/...
@karlbode
Karl Bode on x
love this brilliant new model of charging car owners thousands of extra dollars in unnecessary subscription fees for technology that they already technically own and paid for https://www.thedrive.com/...
@carnage4life
Dare Obasanjo on x
Car companies have joined the rush to subscriptions. To one-up BMW charging $18/month for heated seats, Mercedes will charge $1,200/year for “increased acceleration” which lowers 0-60MPH by 1s in their electric cars. Of course, it's really Tesla envy. https://www.thedrive.com/...