VW introduces monthly subscription to increase car power

[Tell]

Interesting one. Probably come to Cupra / Seat may be if it goes down well.

VW introduces monthly subscription to increase car power

The German car-maker says its "optional power upgrade" is designed to give customers more choice.

www.bbc.com

Why Vag are increasingly locking down their systems to stop tampering nodoubt with income flows such as this one. Not just safety features they dont want compromised by "coding". But €s.

 

[tracktoy]

What I would add is they get a nice income stream from VCDS/OBD11/CARISTA to have access to the systems so maybe expect those cost to increase and in turn be passed on in higher subscription fees (which OBD11 Did just last week).

 

[East Yorkshire Retrofits]

Interesting one. Probably come to Cupra / Seat may be if it goes down well.

VW introduces monthly subscription to increase car power

The German car-maker says its "optional power upgrade" is designed to give customers more choice.

www.bbc.com

Why Vag are increasingly locking down their systems to stop tampering nodoubt with income flows such as this one. Not just safety features they dont want compromised by "coding". But €s.

They’re locking things down due to UNECE R155 R156, it isn’t an internal decision

 

[Tell]

I'm thinking when I get a new car I'll forget about coding. It was a wild west thing of the past.

With vehicle to grid just round the corner with your EV battery acting as a virtual battery farm for the grid. Tesla news and Octopus Energy news, people messing with the cars systems could bring the grid down like in Spain. Getting big boy stuff now beyond turning on the light show on the rear bar.

Whilst there probably isnt the real estate for the same number of solar cells on individual homes buying and selling off the grid and using your EVs battery does mean any possible meddling with the charging systems in the car or home battery systems once V2G takes off would / could cause power outage which security services would takes seriously. Connected systems needing to be locked down from tampering on safety grounds whether its personal safety of compromising safety features of the car or national energy security is another. Probably end to end security in the infrastructure to keep out hackers from the components.

(Octopus / Tesla news item is probably due I would guess to a fall out of Tesla with Octopus who are in the same game but that's another story but illustrates V2G elsewhere in the world)

 

[Syphon]

You're paying extra for a software change that would cost VW no more money to have running on the car from the factory, purely a money-grabbing scheme surely.

 

[Tell]

It's a bit like buying a fully specified computer but they have turned half of it off. If you want to use the fitted hardware you got to pay extra .The EV acceleration toned down etc. I can see why they lock everything down from tampering in the future with the Internet of things but this is providing modular functionality at a price point that's already built to the mechanics of the specification.

 

[tracktoy]

VAG, BMW and Merc have all factored into there business plans that they will make extra Income from renting / selling extra features. There was also some talk that if I paid for a feature and sold the car the feature would not transfer this article seems to imply not.

 

[Tell]

The fleet of PCP cars which they treat as they own them which they do if never bought outright with the balance paid. I reckon that's why they stopped selling the cars with optional extras it was easier to flog them on to keep them simple stupid. The VZ range or whatever the natty code is. Marketing stuff but also to keep the model range tight. Software control now means they can control the range via software. They need a moving display at the back to say what firmware updates the car has . Those that like to go dark could tape over it. Well nobody knows...

 

[MonikaG32]

What I would add is they get a nice income stream from VCDS/OBD11/CARISTA to have access to the systems so maybe expect those cost to increase and in turn be passed on in higher subscription fees (which OBD11 Did just last week).

That’s a really good point — do you think those fees will keep going up over time? Also, are there any alternatives that might stay more affordable?

 

[Tell]

That’s a really good point — do you think those fees will keep going up over time? Also, are there any alternatives that might stay more affordable?

Well with inflation or financial state of the company. Carista is another one click type of device for coding. You arent coding but running a macro the same as the micro payment one click Obdeleven apps unless you you have the license where you can "code". Basically toggling the behaviour of elements of the control units. Programming similar comes in with VCDS etc at a higher price. The one click apps are fundamentally dangerous if they are poorly configured. Thats the issue now Obdeleven with the super supreme option (forgot its name) allows people to crowd source the micro payment apps. You do one, pass it onto them and if not QAed correctly will damage the cars behaviour. @tracktoy I think we had conversations once about this. Some people like to go to meetings with unusual light behaviours... might have been they .

The coding approach is safer in Obdeleven it contains a history file of changes in each system so you can unpick what you did. You are suppose to back up as well but unlike windows there is no restore function. You do that via looking at the history file and changing back what you changed.

More is locked away in SFD2 since 2025, SFD(1) was 2020. Most of the locking away was to secure safety features of the car from changes and to make sure the infotainment system didnt become a security risk via hacking.

 

[jezyg]

It was final nail in the coffin for even going to look at an ID3 TBH. It was cheaper than the Cupra overall, but charging £16 a month to pay for the power the car was built with was a no, no especially as the price of the car did not go down either!

ID3 is not exactly a budget car to start with. We had similar with the Mini last year with high beam assist costing £80 for three years, cheeky money grabbing. They then wonder why Chinese manufacturers are gaining rapidly in sale figures...

 

[Tell]

Don't start me off I went into a Cupra dealer today since they are thin on the ground where I live. The Tavascan door wouldn't open, system failed... put your hand through the window to open. The Terramar also had an electrical fault on charge. Hybrid.

The sales person wandering about. I knew more about Cupra and Seat than he did. What did come out of the viewing was the Terramar had the snake effect plastic internal finish as the Tavascan... told him about that design feature.

CUPRA Tavascan V1 286 Review

What is it? The Tavascan is CUPRA’s first all-electric SUV, with two power outputs: 286PS and 340PS. We have the 286PS version in V1 guise in the Atacama Desert colour. It comes with some welcome, unique styling, but will it hold up against its rivals using the same VW MEB platform? Or will...

www.seatcupra.net

BYD also not much better sales folk. Thought the Cherry looked good in the shopping mall. Just as well I'm not in the market.

 

[jezyg]

Don't start me off I went into a Cupra dealer today since they are thin on the ground where I live. The Tavascan door wouldn't open, system failed... put your hand through the window to open. The Terramar also had an electrical fault on charge. Hybrid.

The sales person wandering about. I knew more about Cupra and Seat than he did. What did come out of the viewing was the Terramar had the snake effect plastic internal finish as the Tavascan... told him about that design feature.

CUPRA Tavascan V1 286 Review

What is it? The Tavascan is CUPRA’s first all-electric SUV, with two power outputs: 286PS and 340PS. We have the 286PS version in V1 guise in the Atacama Desert colour. It comes with some welcome, unique styling, but will it hold up against its rivals using the same VW MEB platform? Or will...

www.seatcupra.net

BYD also not much better sales folk. Thought the Cherry looked good in the shopping mall. Just as well I'm not in the market.

Sales side of car's never seems to change almost stuck in the 1990's, odd ones are decent the one we had in Barlow Motors Wolverhampton was one of the best I have come across in a long while. Really knew the product range as well as being insightful - refreshing change.

I think manufactures want us to buy car's like washing machines or dishwashers these days... No glossy brochures, some like VW and Audi don't even do digital price lists either. The larger dealer groups think we are all mug's and happy to pay full list price one got quite upset when I said I would shop around for the best price and even told me to go to another local dealer for the best price!

 

[Tell]

I give the family owned dealers the thumbs up where the owner / director walks the floor and keeps the staff on their toes. The chains can fall to sleep. This Cupra / Seat dealer had been turned around 20 years ago by a management buy out. The director told me he was re engineering the staff, aka making the lazy ones redundant. It was subsequently sold on and I had noticed loss of focus of the staff 12 years ago.

Sold on again. Personable but not delivering staff. Staff need to watch out when dealing with retired management consultants. Testing them out. Being chummy and seeing what they say. Borrow their watch and tell them the time (the old saying). Your watch has stopped ️. The BYD dealer was similar. A shambles. Technology that works is also useful as far as the Vag group. Anyhow I did monitor how John Lewis was trying to sell a laptop to two pensioners. I was going to chip in.... I looked over the shoulder... hmm I remember training... always stand in front. Oops.