The yearly fee is most likely a way to increase the overall profitability of the vehicle. After all, the Mercedes EQ sells for around $50,000, but it’s hard to imagine that the company needs more than $1,200 per year from each customer to maintain the car.
Of course, this could be simply a ploy to get people who want a high-performance electric car to pay up.
Either way, we hope this doesn’t catch on with other car companies. If the Mercedes EQ can sell for $50,000 and still make money with a $1,200 yearly fee, then every other luxury car company will want to follow suit.
This could lead to people paying multiple thousands of dollars per year just to maintain their vehicles. The whole idea is ridiculous, and it’s frightening to think that people will be willing to pay this much.
Of course, if you own a Mercedes EQ, then you can probably afford it. The rest of us will just have to sit back and hope that other automakers don’t follow suit.
If you own a Mercedes EQ and are paying $1,200 per year for maintenance, then we’re sorry. It’s not fair that you have to pay so much just to keep your car running.
This is exactly why we don’t want other companies to follow suit: They’ll just end up charging customers like this as well. We’re not saying that you shouldn’t be charged for maintenance, but $1,200 per year is ridiculous.
That’s more than many people make in a month! The whole point of owning a car is that it should be affordable. If you have to pay thousands just to keep your vehicle running, then what’s the point?
This performance increase isn’t limited to specific models either, it’s available across the EQ range:
Mercedes-EQ EQE 350 4MATIC: increase from 215 kW to 260 kW, with 0-60 time changing from 6.0 seconds to approx. 5.1 seconds.
Mercedes-EQ EQE SUV 350 4MATIC: increase from 215 kW to 260 kW, with 0-60 times changing from 6.2 seconds to approx. 5.2 seconds.
Mercedes-EQ EQS 450 4MATIC: increase from 265 kW to 330 kW, with 0-60 time changing from. 5.3 seconds to approx. 4.5 seconds
Mercedes-EQ EQS SUV 450 4MATIC: increase from 265 kW to 330 kW, with 0-60 times changing from 5.8 seconds to approx. 4.9 seconds
While the power increase is welcome, the downside is that this is a subscription. To unlock this performance requires that owners drop $1,200 a year to keep this performance upgrade.