By now, most of us have made peace with the fact that our cars are computers on wheels. What’s harder to stomach is that automakers seem hell-bent on monetizing every last line of code inside them. From heated seats that only work if you’ve paid the monthly ransom to “performance boosts” that feel more like microtransactions than engineering marvels, the industry is in the middle of a subscription gold rush.
BMW already tried and failed to rent out heated seats. Mercedes is still peddling an Acceleration Increase package for EQ models—a $1,200-per-year shot of caffeine for the car’s drivetrain. Now Volkswagen is dipping its toe in the water, and its UK customers are the guinea pigs.
According to Auto Express, the ID.3 Pro and Pro S don’t ship with their full 228-hp output unlocked. Instead, they’re capped at 201 hp unless you pay extra to liberate the ponies. VW even offers a free trial, as though horsepower were a Netflix show. After that, customers can choose: £16.50 per month, £165 per year, or a one-time unlock for £649 (about $879).
On paper, it’s not outrageous. But on a car that already costs around $50,000, hiding horsepower behind a paywall feels less like innovation and more like nickel-and-diming. VW could have just baked the cost into the MSRP, and most buyers wouldn’t have batted an eye. Instead, the company chose to turn acceleration into a subscription service.
There is one wrinkle: nearly half of all new lease registrations in the UK in 2023 were EVs. If you’re only keeping the car for two or three years, maybe skipping the lifetime upgrade saves you a few hundred bucks. But is saving a few bucks really worth driving around in a car that’s intentionally hobbled?
The bigger story here isn’t VW’s pricing model—it’s the precedent. Automakers have realized that selling you a $50,000 car once isn’t enough. They want recurring revenue. And unlike physical hardware, software can be locked, restricted, and licensed on the fly. Paywalls for performance today could become subscriptions for safety features tomorrow.
If you think that’s paranoia, consider this: Mazda recently hit a developer with a cease-and-desist for creating a tool that connected Mazda vehicles to an open-source smart-home system. Automakers already argue in court that customers don’t own their vehicles outright because much of what makes them run is software—and that software is copyrighted. That legal distinction could turn into a weapon for automakers to limit repairs, mods, or anything that threatens their control of post-sale revenue.
VW’s UK horsepower trial might not land in America anytime soon, but it’s a warning shot. Your next car might be less a machine you own and more a service you rent, one monthly subscription at a time.
Source: Automotive News, Auto Express
