Like Tesla might do with their upgraded autopilots and seat heating? They have also started talking about subscriptions for these, don't know if they actually have implemented it yet..

I think all luxury manufacturers will experiment with this unfortunately. Best you can do is don't buy into it...

I think there's a case to be made for autopilot subscriptions; once autopilot finally does what is says on the tin.

These things require access to accurate and up-to-date road and traffic info, need updates to stay compliant with local regulations, and may (need to) include insurance.

These are all factors that nudge towards a monthly subscription, instead of a one-time purchase. Once the seller goes bust, you wouldn't be able to use your 'purchase' anyhow.

>These things require access to accurate and up-to-date road and traffic info

Which they will probably steal from the regular drivers, so you will be effectively paying for your own data.

Tesla also has a paid acceleration boost option in their app and its more expensive than $1200.

It is a one-time $2000 upgrade on my car. Dunno about others, but the subscription being a "for the life of the vehicle" purchase seems like the lousy part of this deal.

Only available on the Model 3 LR AWD.

And this wasn't a feature when it first came out, but I wonder if Tesla planned it from the beginning, or if it's something they decided to start offering only after people started noticing that the motors and battery on the LR AWD were the same as the Performance and started asking for a software unlock.

Available on Model Y LR as well

Haven't they already done something along those lines where some options are per-owner and transferring the vehicle will remove the option?

If you sell private party, or trade it to a non-Tesla dealership, then all options will follow the vehicle.

If it ever gets back into Tesla's hands, they have the option to remove the features.

There WAS a case where someone bought a used Tesla from a non-Tesla dealership that was sold with FSD and Tesla then removed the FSD, and there was a lot of outrage behind it, but like many cases of outrage, it was based on a misunderstanding. That car was never supposed to have FSD. There was a bug at some point that gave FSD to cars that weren't supposed to have it, and that car was sold before the bug was fixed, removing FSD, but the dealer sold it as having FSD because at the time, it did. Of course, IMO, Tesla should have just gone ahead and granted FSD in order to save face instead of generating a ton of negative PR and creating a massive amount of misconceptions.

No, but it's considered. What you may have heard is car returned and feature being removed when sold to someone else.

> I think all luxury manufacturers will experiment with this unfortunately.

And not so luxury as well, they might start by giving you the features and financing that by playing/showing you the ads and giving the incentive to pay. I imagine in not so distant future even the microwaves for plebs will have ads.

Tesla already provides a faster acceleration software upgrade. Mercedes just copied them.

Tesla's acceleration boost upgrade is a one-time fee though!

Yup, the costs for parts, maintenance and potential repairs for a lot of luxury cars has always been a running joke. Hard to use most of the features if you can't fix the car to run.