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by cat_plus_plus 1019 days ago
I don't understand the big deal, I look at the price and features and see if it makes sense for me. Nothing wrong with market segmentation. Some people want a fancy brand car as a checkbox but can only pay so much, for others a little extra is no big deal. The only way to find out who is who is offer different packages for different price, even if the differences are more economically controlled by software. Would anyone really prefer not being able to afford a luxury brand at all, or paying more than they are comfortable with? This way, wealthy consumers effectively subsidize hardware for less wealthy consumers.
2 comments

This way, wealthy consumers effectively subsidize hardware for less wealthy consumers.

That's not how this works. Everyone who buys the car is paying for the feature equally. All of the cost of the R&D, the materials, the labor to build the feature in your car, that's all in the price you pay to buy the car. The subscription is entirely an additional cost to use the feature you've paid for. Mercedes are not discounting the car for everyone and then making the discount back from subscriptions. They're nerfing the car and then charging people to unnerf it.

subscriptions almost always end up costing the consumer more.