Category: Model News

Subscription services like Audi Connect raise troubling questions about the future of vehicle ownership.

While cruising the forum this week, I stumbled across this thread from coldrain85, which polled members about whether they intended to keep their Audi Connect subscription beyond the initial six-month trial. It’s a perfectly reasonable question and highlighted that currently, the price for the top tier Connect Plus has climbed to a whopping $50 a month — or about as much as home internet costs.

Of the members who answered the poll, only a third said they’d continue the service, with some saying the onboard Wi-Fi actually saved them money, by allowing them to pare down their cellular plans. That said, most of the folks thought it cost too much, and said their smartphones handled their connectivity needs.

As sirfrancis noted, Audi — unlike most internet providers — doesn’t have a client retention department, so calling customer service isn’t going to get you a break on the rates. The big question, of course, is where Ingolstadt intends to take its subscription model. Because right now, Audi Connect features are nice, but not terribly important things to have. Though it’s easy to see a future where much of a new car’s functionality disappears six months after you’ve left the dealership — unless you’re willing to pay to get it back.

Think about it. BMW is already charging a subscription fee to use Apple CarPlay, a feature that is native to the car’s infotainment system, and as The Verge reported, in places like South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, and New Zealand, it subjects creature comforts like heated seats, adaptive cruise, and automatic high beams to subscription fees. And as opposed to letting buyers pay for a performance car at the dealership, Forbes reported Mercedes-Benz now wants to charge customers $1,200 a year to get the most punch out of its EQE and EQS electric vehicles. As our friends at CarScoops noted, Stellantis is getting into the game too, and by 2030, the company expects to rake in $4.4 billion in post-sales charges annually.

For anyone considering a new car, this trend should set off alarm bells. Because given the opportunity, manufacturers will raise subscription fees to the absolute limit of what the market will bear — and there are no laws in place to protect consumers. So while safety regulations might stop buyers from being charged for a “night driving mode” that allows use of the headlights, a “vehicle-to-vehicle communication function” that enables the turn signals, or an “inverse-orientation maneuverability setting” that engages reverse, if this model continues unchecked, there’s nothing to stop automakers from turning vehicle ownership into an unending torrent of microtransactions.

Mark my words: Without legal intervention, most future vehicles will be designed to go into “limp mode” unless customers opt for subscription plans. But what do you think? Am I overreacting? Or are charges like the ones above indicators that a time when you never truly own your vehicle is just around the corner? Hit me up and let me know!

Image Source: Audi

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