Mercedes-Benz to offer an online subscription service in the US

Mercedes-Benz is to introduce an acceleration online subscription service in the US to make its electric cars speed up quicker.

The company will enable some of the vehicles to accelerate from 0-60mph a second faster for an annual cost of $1,200 excluding tax. This news comes after its rival manufacturer BMW offered a subscription feature for heated seats, earlier this year.

Acceleration subscription will be available for purchase in the US on the Mercedes-EQ, EQS 450, and EQE 350 vehicles, and their SUV counterparts. This new feature will electronically increase the output of the motor of the car as well as the torque, said the Mercedes US online store. It is said that it estimated the amounts to a 20-24% increase in output. This subscription allows a Mercedes-EQ 350 SUV to accelerate from 0-60mph in about 5.2 seconds contrary to 6.2 seconds without the subscription.

Jack McKeown, motoring editor of the Courier newspaper, in Dundee and Association of Scottish Motoring Writers president said that the new feature of Mercedes was "unsurprising but dispiriting". He also added that he hopes there is a consumer backlash against it as leveraging more profit out of subscriptions is a worrying trend.