Did you know that actually happens with jet engines for a long time now? Companies lease jet engines and they have licenses for a certain number of engines in different max outputs, they can even transfer between them like, one 100% engine got damaged so they they transfer the 100% license to an 80% engine while it is in maintenence (all numbers are made up but the idea is the same).

But yeah, shit is fucked.

You forgot this little point.

You own a non-exclusive, intransferable licence to use and operate said car.

Yes, you paid for it. But it's not really yours. You own its body. Someone else still owns its spirit. And they want a rent for you to be able to touch the spirit.

Why would they do that?

Obviously, becaude that shit flies. Why not do it? Money is money. And companies exist for it. Fuck morality. Fuck common sense. They only care about the little green lines.

Customer satisfaction?

Not even an afterthought.

In a sane world, everyone would think like you. I do, for one.

The problem is everyone else who doesn't. They'll put up with it, accept the thinly-veiled excuses, and the company will see "wow, we can do that now? Gee, these people are stoopid. Let's see how far we can take it.

Honestly, I see where they're coming from. Not that I support it. But it is a rational decision on their part.

In a sane world, the smart employee who came up with this would be fired promptly, because if the company were to carry this shit out, they'd get so much bad press it'd take over a decade to recover.

But alas, we don't live in a sane world and clearly enough consumers are either idiots or ignorant for this shit to fly.

Same man, same. Weight loss is hard.

This has been true for decades with VW and other cars… I had my 2000 Jetta chipped and got all kinds of HP and torque. Some dude just plugged in a laptop, beep boop, vroom vroom. $600 please.

This just seems like VW cutting out those middlemen.

I'm sure it's already being developed. Those guys don't fuck around

What about the used car market?

"Please purchase a public road pass for multiplayer access"

Hacks are an inevitability for any product with a computer in it.

For a lot of this type of stuff, the "lifetime subscription" is applies to the owner, not the vehicle. So when the vehicle is resold, the subscription doesn't transfer and the new owner has to buy it again (or do without). At least Volkswagon claims that this will go with the vehicle unlike companies like Tesla, but we'll see.

Eventually, the manufacturer will stop supporting subscriptions on older cars. This could either because the money they bring in isn't worth the cost of continuing to support a dwindling number of older cars, some technical limitation, or an intentional decision to cut off older cars with the hope it will push people to buy a new car.

Considering cars are expected to last 15-20 years, I'm guessing that these vehicles will not age well.

Already happening. That shit should be outlawed a.s.a.p.

I have a VW ID.4.

In NZ they have no internet connection, no subscriptions, basic driver assist features, made in Europe, not made by Tesla, and are (were?) as cheap as BYDs, MGs, and Model3s.

I love VW Golf.

My Mercedes has subscriptions for things like locking your car from the app or locating it 😂.