The way I see it is that you're supposed to own the car and every feature you paid for it.
That was later outlawed with the "first-sale doctrine": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
I would say that it seems like it's time for some new legislation that supports consumer freedom. But given the state of American politics, I can only hope that Europe will do some pioneering work on this.
Option A: A vehicle that lacks the hardware for heated seats, heated steering wheel, and driver assist that costs $25,000 to produce and that you pay $25,000 for. If you want these items next year, you have to buy a new vehicle.
Option B: A vehicle that includes the hardware for heated seats, heated steering wheel, and driver assist that costs $27,000 to produce. You can pay $25,000 now and those features aren’t enabled. But next year you can enable them for a nominal fee. Or you can pay $30,000 now and there are enabled for life. Or $27,000 now and a $500/year subscription fee that you can later cancel.
If not having two separate designs and production lines means less cost to make that a reality, that seems like a reasonable trade off to me.