It occurs to me that all of these feature subscription models never seem to mention maintenance. Is that correct? Like, Ford wants to make a car that will deactivate the radio and blare annoying noises at you like you’re a fucking cat if you miss a payment, BMW and Lexus are gating performance and heated seats behind subscriptions and paywalls… But all you get is access. They arent going to fix the heated seats if a coil burns out. They aren’t going to fix a spun bearing you incur while using the extra performance you paid for. They aren’t going to repair a blown transformer in the radio. So you are literally paying for nothing. I am so glad I have an '07 Mustang Convertible. If I keep it maintained and looking good, the value will skyrocket when they actually standardize all of this abusive shit.
Of course, then somehow “Cash for Clunkers” will come back and be even less “voluntary” and suddenly most cars made before ~2018 will be removed from the road and bricked.
Szymon@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
The cost of things has detached from what it costs to put the thing in the hand of the consumer, to instead a model of “what is this worth to you”.
rumckle@aussie.zone 9 months ago
Under capitalism it’s always been the case of"what is this worth to you". The difference is in the past if a company overcharges then a competitor could come along and undercut them (so long as the gap was big enough that it made financial sense).
Unfortunately, monopolies, regulatory/government capture, vertical integration, marketing and cartels have gotten so far out of control that consumers are left with little choice but to suck it up. And most governments in the Anglosphere don’t really care.
SCB@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Are you suggesting the automobile market is a monopoly?
krakenx@lemmy.world 9 months ago
No, we are suggesting that the automobile market is one of the few industries that isn’t a monopoly yet, which is why BMW couldn’t get away with it.
But also, the automobile market is getting more concentrated so it won’t be long until the 4 companies left legally collude to force this stuff on us. Just like every other industry.
rumckle@aussie.zone 9 months ago
No, not everything in that list applies to every industry. The car market isn’t a monopoly, but it definitely has issues with government and regulatory capture (and perhaps others, I’m not expert in auto manufacturing). But even without those issues the nature of car making today gives it a high barrier of entry for new comers.
And as others pointed out, the fact it’s not a monopoly leads to more unpopular ideas being scrapped.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Yeah we’re reaching the point where it becomes clear that the market can’t bear everyone charging the most the market can bear.
People will pay extra for a luxury. People won’t pay the most they’re willing to pay on a luxury on every luxury they’ve gotten accustomed to at a reasonable price.
Signtist@lemm.ee 9 months ago
I hope you’re right, but I’ve seen a concerning amount of people say “It’s only $X, so why not?” so many times that it’s eating up a huge percentage of their monthly earnings.