I'm not really 'for' subscription upgrades, but maybe to give a different point of view...

I tend to buy the most powerful version of a vehicle and spec out with a lot of options. I've had my ID Buzz Cargo 2 years now, it's paid for and I'd lose money on it if I sold it.

If they offered this upgrade on the Buzz, I'd probably pay it - it's 189€ per year in France for the ID3 upgrade - so assuming the same cost, a bit of added fun for not a lot of money.

When it it's sold on, 204bhp in standard is more than enough to be fair, but if the new owner wanted more they could pay for the upgrade.


Using the heated steering wheel as an example, if all steering wheels for a certain model are made with the heating element, there are economies of scale, also one part to stock instead of two. Not everyone needs or wants one, so let those who want it pay for it.

Second advantage is buying used - you've found your ideal car but it doesn't have the heated steering wheel, you live somewhere cold, you really want it... no problem, activate and all is done.


I've tried out some of the upgrades on the Buzz as one month free of charge - one of them I didn't like so haven't used again. The built in GPS worked well for me, not needing to connect a phone and relying on sketchy signal meant I ended up paying for the upgrade.

 

I have to wonder...

VW probably settled on the 201 HP and 195 ft·lbs as a compromise between controlling warranty costs and having a sellable product, with engineering, marketing and the accountants all involved.

So if the customer is paying to unlock 27 extra horsepower, are they really paying to add wear at a rate that engineers originally didn't design for?

As poorly as the ID.3 has been selling (reportedly – I'm not paying attention) shouldn't this small performance boost have been included at some point, not held back for 5 years? That doesn't pass the smell test.

 

I have to wonder...

"So if the customer is paying to unlock 27 extra horsepower, are they really paying to add wear at a rate that engineers originally didn't design for?"

I am full agreement with the sentiments expressed by others, after all, why would you pay more for what is already built under the hood, who owns it after its bought and paid for, right?

But the idea that the additional performance accelerates wear on components the power train might not actually be designed for suggested to me there might actually be a cost associated with unlocking extra performance. By "not designed for" I mean run hard enough to increase the risk of power train component failure from say, less than 1% to say, %20, during the duration of the warranty period. (just making up numbers for the thought experiment, no idea what the real ones might be)

So, lets say the cost of repairing a power train failure during the warranty period from eeking out extra oomph is $10,000. The expected value (of failure) for any one car is 20% of $10,000 is $2000. So thats plus a markup is the cost of the subscription

Then lets say 5 people "subscribe" for the extra power. By the end of the warranty period four of them have had no trouble but the fifth' s lead foot has resulted in his vehicle going to the shop. The other four without trouble are, essentially, helping to cover the cost of the one with trouble with their "subscription".

I dunno, its nice to know the extra Hp is there, but I dont think VW should offer it at all, their job is to sell reliability and performance, and it already hauls butt as it is, especially the dual motor ones. Nobody wants a car that can outrun an SS396 but is a big paperweight at 50,000 miles. Let some hot rod shop figure out how to unlock the power just like they might to anyone who wants to say supercharge their ICE, and owner takes all risk for blowing the motor.

 

Tesla offers a one time $2,000 OTA Acceleration Boost for the LR AWD Model 3/Y that cuts the 0-60 time to half way towards that of the Performance trim. From following TMG I’d guess the take rate is pretty low to gain a half a second on cars that are already quicker than most need. Like pretty much everyone has for years, they offer a Premium Connectivity package. I paid for 5 years on our Subaru and am now having to renew every year.

 

This thing with "subscriptions" to get to hardware already there angers me greatly. You paid for the engineering and components up front. So is it your vehicle, or does it still belong to the corporations you allegedly bought it from?

This rancor is not out of the blue. I was exposed to this methodology 50 years ago. That's right, half a century. I was a data processing manager for a small company when small mainframes were just coming on board at a price point they could afford (IBM System 3, for those in the know). I was writing code that was maxing-out RAM on the model we were leasing, a whopping 4K bytes. The IBM rep offered to install another 4K, at an additional ~$1000/mo. I was able to convince the Big Boss that this memory was needed if he wanted all those bells and whistles in the general ledger report to work. Yes, it was IBM, and were not to be questioned because we were leasing capacity and not "hardware". Still, had the Internet been a thing then, the little trick with the black wire would have set the 'net on fire.

Service tech made the appointment, and I shut everything down for him to install the newly-doubled capacity. Looking over his shoulder (I always did), the "installation" amounted to moving one black wire from one pin on the backplane to another. $1000 a month more for core memory that was already there. I never told my boss about this, I was furious enough for both of us.

So the concept of you paying good money in purchasing a vehicle yet only leasing parts of it? Where the sun don't shine, folks, where the sun don't shine.

 

I agree with @MikeQBF , this practice needs to die in a fire.

 

Have you never bought, say, the cheaper printer and wished you'd paid the extra for the next model up? Software manufacturers are doing this all the time. If you think 'I can't the extra now but I get a pay rise in 6 months time and I can upgrade then' - what's wrong with that? It's far better than losing a fortune on a pert-ex to upgrade.

 

What is the cost of the subscription for 2 more window switches?

 

Unfortunately the business world figured this out quite a while ago. My wife became rather irate when the music she bought on iTunes became unavailable because the performer had an issue with their 'cut' with Apple. So that 'purchase' by the end user was just a temporary license to use and subject to modification.

 

So that 'purchase' by the end user was just a temporary license to use and subject to modification.

It never was anything else. Same with anything bought off Steam or the PS5 store. License/”rent” only.

Cannot gift or sell to another person, and when you pass, so will your account and poof, everything paid for is gone.

 

Two thoughts:
Under the category of long-term customer satisfaction and repeat ownership …
1. VW could use a 27hp bump as a small gift back for all of the s/w complications the pre-v4 s/w ID series EVs have come with as standard equipment. All of the v4+ ID’s also the APP550 outback with it’s performance bump well beyond this +27hp increase. Monthly subs for built-in MINOR improvements are a bad sign. Hope the UK owners tell mArKeTiNg that CASH GRAB is, as Monte Python would say, “right out of there”.
2. Bring a NEEDED buy-it upgrade. Make processor/software v4+ / improved NAV-charging integration / battery preconditioning a one-time buy upgrade. I understand it would be $XPNSV$, but dead-end, still buggy s/w (my Infotainment reboots more on 3.5+ than 3.2.13) and slow winter DC charging are the stuff trade-ins are made of and which upgrades could create long-term ownership satisfaction from.
I know …. another ’ever hopeful’ idea. But better to dream than growl, eh?

 

In a former life, I worked for a diesel engine manufacturer. (I won't tell you their name but they were the only independent diesel engine maker in the US and they were headquartered in Indiana) We had features like this for years. In those days, they weren't "subscription" as the engines weren't connected to any network, but they were included at the time of purchase, or could be added on for a fee.

"Smart Power" would give an off-highway engine extra HP on a specified interval. Why? Think of a combine: when actively harvesting the combine is running as fast as possible and very close to full engine power. When the combine activates the offload auger to fill up the grain cart, it would have to slow down some to provide power to the auger. With Smart Power, the operator can press a button to activate the extra power while the auger is operating so that harvesting can continue apace.

"Smart Torque" was the on-highway version. Basically provided a different torque curve when the transmission was in the top 2 gears so drivers couldn't "hot rod" in town but still had sufficient power on the highway. Also allowed fleets to spec transmissions that had lighter gears in the lower range. Seems like a small savings but fleets would order 1,000 or 2,000 trucks at a time so the savings add up.

It was also common for fleets to order the lowest possible HP rating for a given hardware configuration. So they would buy a 500hp engine, run it for 500,000 or 1,000,000 miles, and then purchase the highest power calibration (usually 600HP) to increase the resale value of the truck.

Lots of good opportunity for both positive and negative effects of subscription-based car features, for sure!

 

I would drop the price of new cars then charge for using the battery but not charging.

 

Brilliant! You should get an honorary MBA.

 

 

For those who lease a vehicle because low mileage is a given, this would be a workable solution. For others that need to drive beyond those few miles a year this could be a really expensive proposition.

 

There is a reason why I don't drive a BMW in the colder regions of the United States and Southern Canada.

 

In the 1970s, VWs had intermittent wiper capability in some of their models. To activate it, you needed to get inside the base of the wiper stalk and snap off a small piece of plastic that prevented you from moving the stalk to that position.

) IBM had copiers years (decades)ago that, if you paid more for faster copying capability, they would simply move a belt from one set of pulleys to the other set.

 

In the 1970s, VWs had intermittent wiper capability in some of their models. To activate it, you needed to get inside the base of the wiper stalk and snap off a small piece of plastic that prevented you from moving the stalk to that position.

Are you sure? I've never encountered an intermittent wiper implementation where “Intermittent” wasn't the first step between “Off” and “Speed 1”.

 

Tesla famously built substantial extra capacity into their batteries (do they still?) that could be unlocked for a fee.

Not quiet the same, but a friend worked for a company the designed the "Speed Pac" hardshell backpack way back when. They sold the carbon fiber version at a premium price because that's what was expected by the consumer, but at their volumes the injection molded version cost more to produce.

 

Some funny comments here about this. All manufacturers have been doing this for years, especially with diesels where you can buy an entry model with low power, but it's actually just a more powerful model that is software limited. No one complained then, you knew you were buying the base model and it was cheaper.
You could even go to a tuner a pay (yes, pay more money! for a remap that unlocked the extra power of the more powerful model VW was already selling.
Even VW used to sell 'approved' power upgrades for their diesels which was just the software changing the injection, turbo, air and dd whatever other parameters you can think of.
What's the difference?
If I were looking at buying some electric vans for a workforce, the number one thing that would put me off is they are too powerful - I would always buy the least powerful model for staff unless some specific reason existed that more power was needed (towing, etc.) - but at end of life, I'd happily pay for a power upgrade to sell the vehicle...
Each to their won, but these comments 'I will never buy anything that needs subscriptions' - I'm sorry but, get used to it - it's the new normal, it will not go away - you will find more and more things are unavailable to buy, rent and subscription only.

 

-- but at end of life, I'd happily pay for a power upgrade to sell the vehicle...

I believe there is a distinction between an actual "we changed something in the hardware" -upgrade and merely enabling something that is already there. The price of something should correlate with the cost of something. Now VW is including everything needed for the boost in the car, so all cost accruing to VW is already set. Does someone believe they are loosing money unless people pay for the "upgrade"? Of course not.

It therefore goes to reason that VW has already made all the money they need to profitably manufacture the car as it is. Unlocking the extra power is the cost of the data sent out to the car, so their profit margin on the update is something like 99,99 % or so.

And I believe that is what annoys people. At least that is what annoys me. I would be supposed to pay extra for something that costs nothing extra to VW. If unlocking the extra power required swapping hardware or even taking the car to a shop where I need to pay for the time of a tech re-coding something, maybe, but this or paying a sub for heated seats (looking at you, BMW)? Hell no.

 

Paying once for a one-time upgrade may make sense for some people, but paying over and over again as a subscription is absurd for everyone.

Also, once you bought it, they shouldn't be able to prevent you from upgrading it yourself without paying them. If you bought it, it's yours to modify as you wish.

To all the commenters who say they've been doing this forever, I know that, it has been just as irritating and terrible forever.

If you want to give your money to companies who do that, that's your choice. I will consciously avoid doing that anytime it's possible.

 

You don't pay over and over again. You can pay monthly or a one-off of, I believe, £649. Car manufacturers have always charged for a higher spec but it is cheaper for a car manufacturer to install electric windows all round than have winding windows in the back but they charge more because we are prepared to pay for the 'benefit'. I only buy the bit of Sky that I want - does it cost Sky any extra to give me Movies? No, but they can charge me for it if I I want it. In the UK company car drivers pay tax on the 'benefit in kind'. They can get the base model and upgrade it and only pay tax on based on the base price.
BTW if someone thinks they can 'hack' their car to increase the performance without paying VW then don't. The insurance company will class it s an 'unauthorised modification' and invalidate your insurance.