We might be in the market for a car soon. What companies actually sell you cars that you own and control these days?
Note: Renault's future is a bit dubious, because they had to break up with Nissan, and the merger with FCA failed, so they're mostly going at it alone, and they're IMHO too small for that. However, they already have a few EV models, including the most popular EV in Europe for a few years ( Zoe), so maybe they're not that badly placed, and in any case the French government is unlikely to let them fail.
Not sure where the data came from in the top comment, but also Renault didn't have any talks with Stellantis AFAIK, and not sure such merger would be approved atm.
"In early 2019, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sought a merger with French automaker Renault, and reached a provisional agreement with the company. However, the behaviour of the French government during negotiations led to the abandonment of the deal; The Economist reported that "for FCA this portended future interference." Nissan also had various concerns of the impact of the proposal on its alliance with Renault."
Tesla never offered the rental option for their batteries b/c they trusted their quality and reliability (Renault's batteries were and are quite subpar).
Like how people who don't want a SmartTV buy a computer-monitor and tuner instead.
As far as I know, there's no feature that they will remotely disable, though since the car can connect to the internet for various things (sometimes using your phone, sometimes with its own modem, depending on trim) it could in theory happen.
However, a lot of the servicing needs VIDA, which is an always-online subscription thing that communicates live with the mothership, and DICE, some proprietary hardware dongle, so it's not easy to do much to it other than the most cursory maintenance if it needs the computer.
Also the service manuals are for a car since 2014, they're in VIDA too and need a subscription (before that there's a hacked version you can use, but it's still a pain).
Some have announced potential features like paying for remote start, but they’ve all walked it back due to negative feedback afaik