Acceleration Increase Subscription: Mercedes-Benz to Charge $1,200 Per Year to Make EQ Electric Models Faster
We don’t like this. Mercedes-Benz holds back performance of EQ models unless you purchase ‘Acceleration Increase’ subscription.
It just got more expensive to drive a faster Mercedes-Benz. Imagine this scenario. You just parted with well over six figures to bring home one of the new Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles. You are the first on your block with a new EQ model and you are thrilled with your purchase. Sure, it was expensive, but you are getting a cutting edge all-electric Mercedes with the best possible performance, right? Well, not really. You see the company seems to have found a way to extract a bit more money from you. You know all the money you were hoping to save at the gas pump? Turns out you will be spending it anyway if you want your new EQ Mercedes to perform better. Welcome to the Acceleration Increase subscription from Mercedes-Benz.
If you head on over to the Mercedes-Benz online store you will see it for yourself. The Acceleration Increase subscription will cost you an additional $1,200 (plus tax) per year. It promises to enhance the performance of your car. Because we assume Mercedes feels that the $110,000 you already spent just wasn’t enough. The description of the service on the online store says it will improve acceleration from 0 to 60 mph between .8 and 1.0 seconds. It goes on to say that it offers “adjustment of the motor characteristic curve, torque and maximum output.” As well as having “increased acceleration available irrespective of the DYNAMIC SELECT drive program.” But this is going to cost you $100 per month.
Acceleration Increase
The Acceleration Increase subscription page goes on to describe the function in more detail. “Fine tuning of the electric motors increases the maximum motor output (kW) of your Mercedes-EQ by 20 to 24 percent, depending on the original output from factory. The torque is also increased, enabling your vehicle to accelerate noticeably faster and more powerfully.” The page also lists the specific vehicles the subscription applies to and the expected increase. We have that detail listed below:
Mercedes-EQ EQE 350 4MATIC (from 288 horsepower to 349 horsepower/0-60 mph from 6.0 to 5.1 seconds)
Mercedes-EQ EQE SUV 350 4MATIC (from 288 horsepower to 349 horsepower/0-60 mph from 6.2 to 5.2 seconds)
Mercedes-EQ EQS 450 4MATIC (from 355 horsepower to 443 horsepower/0-60 mph from 5.3 to 4.5 seconds)
Mercedes-EQ EQS SUV 4MATIC (from 355 horsepower to 443 horsepower/0-60 mph from 5.8 to 4.9 seconds)
Many Questions
After learning this we are full of questions. First, will EQ owners feel like they have been cheated a bit? These are not inexpensive vehicles. Obviously, they are capable of more performance from the factory. And you now learn that to unlock this performance you need to cough up even more money. How will owners react? And will there be another Acceleration Increase + subscription at a later date that will unlock more power for even more money? And what other subscriptions could Mercedes-Benz have up their sleeve? You buy a car because you think you are getting the best that the company can offer at that price point. Only to learn that they have handcuffed your brand-new ride.
Or will people look at this a different way and think that for only an extra $1,200 per year they can make their car substantially faster? And that is less than buying a whole new car. There might be some folks like that, but we suspect that will be the minority.
The Future
People are cutting their cable subscriptions all the time because of rising monthly fees they are sick of. And now Mercedes is going to hit people with this? Even if you pay for your car outright in cash this means the car is never paid off if you want to keep it performing at its best. Each year you have another $1,200 to spend. Until they raise the price and/or add more subscriptions. A lot of folks out there don’t like EVs, and this just gave them another reason not to. They are too close to software and less like a traditional car. We expect there will be backlash over this subscription approach. But sadly, we also suspect that this is going to become the new norm.
Images: Mercedes-Benz
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