In some ways, they do have costs - the on-going extra wear / load on everything in the vehicle, which presumably is covered by the warranty if you pay for this. That's not free, nor zero.
Re:Renting Horsepower
by alistairSH on Thursday May 04, 2023 @03:32PM
(#35820924)
Sure, but that should be baked into the one-time fee.
The warranty period is known. The rate of failure is know. Etc.
And by your argument, once the warranty is done, the go-fast software should be free (or nearly so).
Wouldn’t the additional wear and tear accumulate over time? The effect of added acceleration doesn’t apply all at once. Mercedes probably does know the rate, and the fee may well cover that.
I'm sorry — I wasn't aware vehicle manufacturers were obliged to pay for my servicing costs for regular, let alone undue, wear and tear?
Re:Renting Horsepower
by alistairSH on Thursday May 04, 2023 @04:02PM
(#35821300)
It depends what wore out.
Brakes and tires? That's on the consumer.
Higher warranty claim rate due to the higher motor output? That's on Mercedes. But only during the warranty period. And if they have any sense they've modeled out that additional wear and now how much it costs (they need it to correctly price a subscription too).
Chances are they've over-engineered the car so there aren't (many) additional warranty clams. So any argument that you get savings passed to the consumer are likely incorrect. The buyer pays for a chassis/brakes/etc that can handle 500hp even if they only want the 300hp version.
I'm sure when the warranty is up they offer it to everyone for free right?
Re:Renting Horsepower
by shortcake27 on Thursday May 04, 2023 @04:00PM
(#35821276)
If you bothered to click on the article before commenting, you would know that Mercedes gives customers the option to buy it outright or pay a subscription.
Re:Renting Horsepower
by alistairSH on Thursday May 04, 2023 @04:41PM
(#35821769)
I did read it, so get fucked.
If a buyer wants 500hp instead of 300hp, there should be a 1-time fee assessed at the time that feature is unlocked (traditionally at purchase because it required a whole different engine; now via app/cloud/magic because it's all software).
The only reason a subscription model should be foisted on the consumer is when the vendor has actual recurring costs to provide a service. In this case, they do not - it's a one time software update.