Apple Inc. is canceling a decadelong effort to build an electric car, according to people with knowledge of the matter, abandoning one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the company.
They might have pulled the luxury brand “buy once, cry once” approach and made all those upgrades a single insanely high fee. “Base model is this, but if you want seat heaters that’s another $8,000, if you want lane assist, that’s another $5,000” etc etc
Yes, but historically the purchase of an option included the physical installation of that option and its associated hardware. Not just turning on parts of the car that are already in it, after you bought it.
To be clear, I don’t think anyone is arguing that options should not cost money. We’re arguing against A) recurring subscriptions, and B) paying more money to activate features already built into the car you already bought.
For many options in cars, the sensors and electronics are already built in but disabled in software. It’s cheaper to build while optimizing profit with options.
“Base model is this, but if you want seat heaters that’s another $8,000$10,000, if you want lane assist, that’s another $5,000 $25,000 and requires a 512GB storage bump for $2,000”
They might have pulled the luxury brand “buy once, cry once” approach and made all those upgrades a single insanely high fee. “Base model is this, but if you want seat heaters that’s another $8,000, if you want lane assist, that’s another $5,000” etc etc
That does seem more like their kind of style
TBF This is how luxury car manufacturers sell their options. Always have been.
Space Karen sells his false self-driving option for €7500 as a software option.
Yes, but historically the purchase of an option included the physical installation of that option and its associated hardware. Not just turning on parts of the car that are already in it, after you bought it.
To be clear, I don’t think anyone is arguing that options should not cost money. We’re arguing against A) recurring subscriptions, and B) paying more money to activate features already built into the car you already bought.
Do you feel that Tesla’s charging for self driving is unfair?
I know the current circlejork but last time I’ve checked the self-driving required an additional processer inside the car.
For many options in cars, the sensors and electronics are already built in but disabled in software. It’s cheaper to build while optimizing profit with options.
Ftfy to more realistic numbers