Nobody likes paywalls, especially when it comes to car features, but Volkswagen is reportedly paywalling horsepower. That’s at least the claim about the ID.3, an all-electric small hatchback that’s sold exclusively in Europe.
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That’s right, for a monthly fee, owners of the ID.3 can unlock extra horsepower for the EV, which arguably is already underpowered. As Auto Express reports, for a mere £16.50 a month, people who own the Volkswagen can unlock an extra 27-bhp for the electric car.
For our readers who are in the US, that’s about $22.37 USD or $268.44 a year just to have a little bit better performance from a mediocre vehicle.
We immediately thought of the BMW heated seat subscription debacle and all the fallout with that. The German automaker backpedaled on that one in a hurry as people freaked out about the gall any car company would have to paywall non-electronic features.
But we wonder if consumers are becoming increasingly desensitized to this sort of thing, especially in EVs. After all, just about everything involve a subscription these days, so why not features in your vehicle?
Being benevolent, VW does offer a lifetime subscription to unlock the extra power for the ID.3, which will set owners back £649.
There are some things we love about connected cars, like recalls involving software updates being done over-the-air. And while some automakers like Tesla and Rivian use that to add new electronic features, it seems Volkswagen thinks in the opposite direction.
It used to be car owners just has to deal with “poverty buttons” or blank spots where features they didn’t get would have been controlled through a corresponding button. Creative owners later could add aftermarket systems and put the controls in those factory spots.
But with vehicles becoming increasingly akin to smartphones on wheels, the level of tinkering owners can do is dropping precipitously. And automakers like Volkswagen are laughing all the way to the bank for offering features which should’ve been included in the already lofty purchase price.
Image via Volkswagen
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