In the United States, Mercedes-Benz will provide an online subscription service to increase the acceleration of its electric vehicles.
Some of the company’s vehicles will have their acceleration increased by one second from 0-60mph for a yearly fee of $1,200 (£991 without tax). This follows BMW’s introduction of a subscription service for heated seats earlier this year, which was seen as a direct challenge to Audi.
Mercedes has told BBC News that it has no plans to roll out its “Acceleration Increase” feature in the UK at this time. It may be purchased in the United States on the Mercedes-EQ EQE 350 and EQS 450, as well as their SUV equivalents.
The Mercedes US web shop claims that this option “electronically boosts” both the vehicle’s motor’s power and torque. A Mercedes-EQ 350 SUV would be able to go from 0-60 mph in around 5.2 seconds with this subscription, compared to 6.2 seconds without it. This is an estimated 20-24 percent improvement in power.
Consumer Pushback
Dundee’s Courier newspaper’s motoring editor, Jack McKeown, who also serves as president of the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers, called the new Mercedes feature “unsurprising yet dispiriting.”
A data network is provided and maintained for subscribers as part of their monthly phone or internet service fees, he explained. Mercedes is asking you to cover the cost of hardware it has previously put in the vehicle and likely earned a profit on when you purchased the vehicle.
There has to be a customer pushback against the growing practice of trying to squeeze more money out of subscription services.
Soon
After announcing in July that consumers might pay £25 per month to unlock heated seats and steering wheels, BMW received a lot of negative feedback. In addition, Toyota said in December 2021 that it will charge select drivers $8 per month for the ability to use a key fob to start the vehicle remotely.
For an additional $2,000, Tesla owners can upgrade their Model 3 with “Acceleration Boost,” which cuts the time it takes to go from 0 to 60 mph by half.
The US Mercedes online shop now lists the Acceleration Increase subscription as “coming soon,” but no firm release date is provided.
