For cars already purchased, what is stopping Tesla from sending an OTA update to disable all functionality in the car beyond minimal NHTSA legally required features (brakes, lights, etc), then demanding $100/month from 'owners' to turn them back on?
Cars already purchased: Their business would collapse overnight. That's called 'Bait and Switch' - not a good business model.
New cars: Sticker shock would put off prospective buyers. It's a lot easier to get people to pay $73 grand up front, rather than $70 grand plus $1200 for heating, then $800 for air-conditioning, plus $500 for GPS, plus $700 for entertainment, plus ..... well you get the idea.
They would become virtually unsellable overnight, and the company would collapse under the weight of lawsuits.
Because they are slowly boiling the frog
Context: I recently had a set of lightbulbs lose all functionality a couple nights ago, now insisting I had to get an account, sign in with 15 character password with certain symbols and mixed case, receive constant marketing emails whether I accept them or not, accept terms of service numbering 10000+ words, and then re-pair the bulbs which could no longer be recognized anyway after long failure attempt cycles. Humiliation ritual complete, bulbs are now e-waste I guess.
$1000 Peloton bike signed out of account and insisted on payment to sign back in at all, though still functions as a $20 salvage bike without any functions.
Is it optimal for all companies to completely cripple products once they've been sold? What's holding them back here?