[ozzythecat]

> As global sales for new cars have fallen in recent years, car manufacturers have pivoted toward selling software updates and features as subscriptions to generate a continuous revenue stream long after a car has been purchased.

Are we surprised here? MB’s leadership has one primary goal: satisfying shareholders and the broader market.

We’ve been in a race to the bottom for a long time now. Inferior construction, cheap parts, overseas labor (or for the car market, labor in the US, Canada, or Mexico but also because of cost optimization).

This is the latest in a long line of cost cutting measures and patterns where the customer ultimately loses. I’m not even mad at Mercedes Benz. They know the game they’re playing, and this is what it takes I suppose.

My son in law bought a new C Class a few months ago. He and my daughter were very pleased. Now me, I’m an old goat, and so when I saw a massive iPad on the center console instead of buttons, I’d tell you that car wouldn’t be my first choice. And they had me sit in it and try it out. It is certainly a nice looking interior, but I pressed on the passenger side dashboard area and on the armrest between the front seats. I heard plastic crackling noises. It’s all plastic, even though it looks like some much superior metallic material. It was just some skin/vinyl on top of plastic.

How well will it hold? Time will tell, but it goes to show you the generation gap. I think he said he paid upwards of $50k for the car. With all the plastic, I can never see myself paying that much money for a vehicle. But hey, Mercedes Benz has a market for these things, and so it’s reasonable to believe that no matter what I think of the $1,200 subscription, there’s a market for that too.

[coolbreezetft22]

I used to feel the same way as you about large touch screens in cars as the main interface in place of physical tactile buttons but I've come to accept that's just the way it is now and if you're looking to buy a new car it'll be hard to avoid. I think some cars (like bmw) have found decent compromise with physical buttons for frequently accessed things like climate or seat warmers.

Don't even get me started on Teslas which is essentially a tablet with a large car-shaped case around it.

[leetcrew]

bmw has also removed physical buttons for climate and heated seats in idrive8. it's an unfortunate step backward, but it's also not as bad as people on the internet will tell you.