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German Mercedes EQS Gets Full Rear-Wheel Steering as a $580 Yearly Subscription

The automotive industry is very different in 2021 as opposed to how it used to be when the Spice Girls were catapulted to worldwide acclaim with Wannabe. Automakers put a huge emphasis on services to rake in additional profits, which brings us to the Mercedes-Benz EQS sedan.
2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS 76 photos
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
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Alternately known as the S-Class of electric vehicles, the EQS is available with two flavors of rear-wheel steering. The 450+ and 580 4Matic for the United States market get 10-degree RWS as standard while the German specification makes do with 4.5 degrees. German customers who really want full rear-wheel steering will have to pony up 489 euros ($580) per year according to Auto Motor und Sport, which is a pretty shady business model.

Wasn’t the Three-Pointed Star supposed to be “the best or nothing” as they like to describe themselves? Couldn’t the bean counters offer 10-degree RWD as a one-time payment? Isn’t the brand-new EQS marketed as the absolute best EV in the luxury segment? We all know the answers to these questions, which is why the 489-euro subscription is all the more dubious.

The shadiness doesn’t end here. AMS mentions a three-year subscription for the princely sum of €1,169 ($1,380) while full rear-wheel steering for the S-Class retails at €1,550 ($1,830) for the lifetime of the car. In both cases, Merc requires the vehicle to be fitted with parking nannies that should come as standard on full-size luxury sedans from the best name in the biz.

Benz proves once again that it doesn’t really understand its customers by rolling out a Netflix-inspired subscription, but they’re not alone. BMW also comes to mind with their $80-a-year Apple CarPlay subscription, a greedy machination that backfired spectacularly in the Bavarian automaker’s face.

Tesla, meanwhile, democratized Full Self-Driving Capability by rolling out $99 and $199 monthly subscriptions whereas standalone FSD Capability costs $10,000. As for General Motors, the Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving suite costs $25 or $15 per month after the three-year free trial expires.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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