No one stays on top of the world forever. Empires crumble. The stars of today are the has-beens of tomorrow. Sic transit gloria mundi and all that. Mercedes-Benz has long been the luxury car in the United States, but after usurping the domestic luxury brands it, too, is on shaky ground.
I say all this because Mercedes-Benz is naming a new sales captain, and the hope is that he’ll be able to turn the ship around. Can he do it? Maybe! It’s not like things are great at German rival Volkswagen, though the company has the Rivian deal to help. And Volvo? Geely-owned brands seem to be the ones most disrupted by tariffs, which is causing problems in Europe.
A lot of the disruption at major automakers has to do with electric cars, which leads to our final story about gas stations and EV stations and when the latter will overtake the former. It’s sooner than you might think.
Mercedes Has To Fix Its EV Problems If It Wants To Survive
The teens were a great decade for Mercedes. In spite of losing some ground in luxury sedans to Tesla, the brand’s strong mix of crossovers and SUVs led the company to a record in 2015. That year the company sold 380,461 vehicles (if you include Smart and vans), including more than 86,000 copies of the C-Class sedan and 32,550 M-Class SUVs.
Mercedes would go on to have more great years, leading the luxury segment in the United States from 2016 to 2018. Since then? It’s been a little rougher. Beyond Tesla, the German luxury brand has fallen behind a stronger BMW and a surging Lexus.
In 2023, Lexus sold 320,249 vehicles, up 23.8% from 2022, and BMW sold 362,244, up about 9% from the prior year. Over that same period, Mercedes hit 351,746 units sold, an increase of just 0.2%.
All of these companies are trying to compete in the electrified vehicle space, with BMW offering what I think are the best EVs of the three, Lexus offering way more hybrids, and Mercedes-Benz selling an unusual mix of electric cars that are not particularly compelling.
This has caught up with Mercedes this year. In an EV market that’s growing, but at a slower rate than in the past, Mercedes Q2 EV sales were down 36% year-over-year. While sales of the cheaper EQB are up year-over-year through the first half of the year (by about 4%), both the EQE Sedan/SUV (-4%) and EQS Sedan/SUV (-52%) are hurting.
Why is this happening? I think Mercedes continues to build good-to-great gas-powered cars and SUVs for people who want something luxurious. The design language isn’t always to my taste, which may be a net positive for the brand if you’ve ever seen the kind of aesthetic I’m into. I find the interiors, punctuated by neon tones, a bit too Berlin disco. I may be in the minority.
After seeing the S-Class fall to the Tesla Model S it seems like Mercedes was ready to strike back with a whole line of cars under the EQ banner. The first car was the Mercedes EQS sedan, a sort of S-Class for people who wanted an EV, which debuted in 2021 as a production model.
It’s… it’s fine? I cannot make one reasonable argument for buying the EQS. It looks like what the Dodge Intrepid would have become if Daimler had kept Chrysler, but not in a good way. It needs a way larger battery pack to achieve a range that’s worth more than either a Lucid Air or a Model S, mostly because its estimated 35 kWh/100 miles is mediocre.
The cheapest EQS, the 450+, is $104,400, compared to the much better and more efficient Lucid Air Pure, which is now just under $70,000. While the Tesla Model S might be aging, a Model S with an old design is a superior vehicle and only costs $72,990.
The same is true of the EQS SUV and the EQE Sedan/SUV. While not explicitly bad, none of them are better than any of the competition and all are more expensive. The one kind of OK one is the least-EQish, the EQB SUV, which is basically an electrified GLB, though the EQB is still all kinds of meh and expensive.
Actually, there are two good ones. The giant, ridiculous Mercedes-Benz Gwagen EV is cool. The Sprinter EV is also kinda great and I need to write up my review of that vehicle. The difference here is that the G and Sprinter EVs are vehicles that look and feel like modern Mercedes products and not some strange, blobby analogs.
What’s Mercedes doing about this? U.S. sales chief Senol Bayrak is being shipped to Germany and Bart Herring, currently in charge of Canadian operations, is coming back to the United States reports Automotive News.
According to a retailer memo obtained by Automotive News, Herring will be responsible for “driving new- and used-vehicle sales performance” and work in “close collaboration” with Mercedes retailers. Herring also will lead the product team “driving our EV, PHEV & ICE portfolio towards an exciting and sustainable future,” the memo said.
[…]
It’s going to be hard. Mercedes needs a serious rethink of its EV and PHEV products if it wants to be competitive, and they’re so far behind it might take a while.
Volvo Revises Down Sales Estimates Due To EV Tariffs
Geely owns Polestar, Volvo, Lotus, Zeekr, and a few other car brands with eyes on export markets. These plans have been disrupted by a backlash from Western Governments against Chinese-built vehicles.
In the United States, Polestar and Volvo will likely be able to skate by on import/export rules because of domestic production, but that’s not going to help Lotus. Volvo and Polestar are both trying to bring non-Chinese production online, but the company doesn’t think it’ll be able to do it fast enough to avoid a negative impact on sales.
While reporting better-than-expected second-quarter results that sent its shares up 6% in morning trade, Volvo lowered its forecast for sales growth this year to 12%-15% from 15%.
“It’s really driven by tariffs,” CEO Jim Rowan told Reuters. “It’s a short term issue for us, but it is an issue and we’re just going to have to deal with that.”
Volvo is rapidly trying to ramp up its EX30 production in Ghent, Belgium next year to deal with these sudden tariffs.
Is The VW-Rivian Deal Smart?
I mentioned that the VW-Rivian deal was a bad sign for the industry, as it showed even a large company with a lot of engineers like VW couldn’t get out of its own way when it comes to developing the key software required to make modern vehicles.
It’s also a bad sign for other automakers as this might give VW a much-needed leg up in the race to build the car of the future, and not just in the realm of software. Here’s what S&P Global Mobility had to say about the differences in vehicle architecture between the two companies:
According to Richard Dixon, senior principal analyst, E/E and Semi, S&P Global Mobility, Rivian’s E/E architecture is built with a different approach to that of Volkswagen’s, which is necessarily developed on a standing electronic control unit (ECU) and domain architecture that is not well suited to making a pure zone design.
“Rivian’s approach is like Tesla’s — its E/E architecture is designed from a clean sheet with one propulsion system in mind and very little legacy domain-based hardware. The first-generation R1 model has only 17 ECUs, wherein equivalent electric cars will have more than 60. R1’s successor, R2, has only seven ECUs. There are three zones and four main domain controllers and only three ECUs. This is mostly attributed to a ‘pure’ zonal design where the domains and zones take a lot of management of local actuators, removing need for local controllers [ECUs]. This is different from some designs coming from established OEMs, which still carry some domain architectures and yet can’t be free of that need to carry them over for reasons concerning cost of parts requalification, among others,” said Dixon. For this reason, Rivian’s hardware is better or on a par with many of its rivals (outside mainland China), he added.
It sounds like you’re working for your ECUs… simplify, man!
Fast EV Chargers Will Outnumber Gas Stations In 2032
If you think about EV charging as access to electricity, then EV chargers way outnumber gas stations because there are plugs everywhere and most cars will let you slow-charge on a 110v outlet if absolutely necessary.
Fast chargers, though? Not so much. That’ll change in roughly eight years according to this analysis from Bloomberg:
At the current pace, public fast-charging sites will outnumber gas stations in the US in about eight years — but charger momentum is only expected to accelerate. North American operators will spend a collective $6.1 billion on charging infrastructure this year, nearly double their 2023 investment, according to BloombergNEF estimates. That annual spend is expected to double again by 2030.
That’s sooner than I’d have expected.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I know it’s a BRAT summer, but let’s throw back a little to some vintage Charli XCX and “Boom Clap” from some movie I was too old to care about it when it debuted. I need the energy, a couple of weeks of travel and I’m wiped.
The Big Question
Mercedes, huh? What do we think? What do they need to do?
My tinfoil hat says China somehow has their hands in all the major manufacturers and they’re just messing with everything. How do we get these ugly ass and shitty ass cars?! It makes no sense.
Why would China do this? So the consumer says enough and pressures government to allow them to sell their cheaper alternatives.
Again, tin foil hat. Calm down. 😉
IMO, Mercedes needs to partner with Lucid on drivetrain and packaging consultation. Mercedes could probably keep the platforms they have since they already spent the money. They should focus efforts strictly on interior design, ride comfort and software features – things that make EV’s unique and desirable. A flagship 2 door grand coupe “Maybach” would be ideal to steer the ship. Trickle down from there.
Also, what’s with the high cost when there’s better alternatives on the market?
Mercedes is a known entity and has been making electric cars when lucid was still in it’s grandma’s fallopian tubes. The interior of the Mercedes is far superior to Tesla or Lucid.
“Fast EV Chargers Will Outnumber Gas Stations In 2032”- Apples to Oranges.
Wake me up when this comes to fruition….Fast EV Chargers Will Outnumber Gas PUMPS In 20xx
The main issue with the electric MBs, aside from the eye popping prices, is that they’re uglier than even me. Shockingly hideous.
But you’re a cute puppy dog, you’re not ugly!
I didn’t read any of this but the most basic thing was to make an electric version of the ICE S Class.
They were sucker punched. The Lexus LS400 absolutely whomped them in 1989. LS400 $35,000, MB 420SEL $61,400. Even the 300SE was $51,400. 42,400 Lexus LS 400 cars were sold in model year 1990. The entire 1990 Mercedes USA portfolio sold 78,375 cars. I would imagine sauerkraut was thrown in the boardroom.
That move also led to Mercedes-Benz cutting cost in many departments, resulting lower material quality that didn’t last long and fragile components that were very expensive to replace (under warranty or out of warranty).
A sucker punch is a jerk move, as if Lexus had tricked them before hitting them. They tricked themselves by being complacent. Good on Lexus.
You’re correct about the use of sucker punch. I will say that I don’t think MB even knew they were in a fight with Toyota until the LS400 showed up.
They missed the boat so hard.
Except MB didn’t lose any volume in 1989 or 90. They gained over the previous years.
The dip in volume was over the following 5 years – 1991-1995.
But consider the model portfolio at that time:
The new W140 S Class was too large and expensive. And the coupe, when introduced was too large and ungainly. W126 owners did not trade up as expected.
The long-running 190 series production was finally wrapping up – and when the new W201 C Class entered the market in 1994 (sales bump) it suddenly made the 8 year old W124 series too small. The salesman actually informed me that the interior space of the new C Class was larger than the E Class.
W124 didn’t wrap up production until 1995 – when the new W210 E Class was finally introduced in the US for 1996.
And that’s when volume finally increased over 1990 numbers.
https://media.mbusa.com/releases/release-6b88d15f3e611a0d188c435b4b22985c-mercedes-benz-usa-sales-history?channelsConstraint=channel-1
As a Mercedes-Benz owner and longtime fan – There’s not a single one of them being produced and sold new that I want.
You can’t get even a Maybach (which is just a $200,000 stretched S Class) or an SL without huge swathes of black plastic and carpet – Meanwhile, over at Porsche & Bentley you have far more color choices.
MB styling has stagnated – except for the EQ line, which is more reminiscent of a Ford Tempo than an S or E Class. And who asked for a hatchback pseudo-S Class? Nobody!
You cannot tell the new CLE from the last C Class coupe/convertible other than the size and the rear lights that came from a 1999 Ford ZX2 – and it is in no way a better car than the previous E Class Coupe/Convertible.
The SL and AMG-GT are a pair of overcomplicated, oversized messes. One isn’t a great luxury convertible and the other isn’t a great sports car. Maserati GranTourismo/GranCabrio and Porsche 911 are better choices than these – and more luxurious.
The new C Class looks like the old C Class, the new E Class is barely distinguishable as a Mercedes-Benz (What’s with the Piano Black grille surround?!?) and the E Class Outback is Horrible.
The G Class is just a throwback to every G Class built since 1979 – but with more complexity and “luxury”
Rolls Royce has managed to keep a version of it’s Greek Temple grille – Bentley has a version of it’s grille – even BMW, as laughably ugly as they have been in recent years, has maintained versions of it’s Twin Kidneys.
Meanwhile over at Mercedes-Benz – you can only get a traditional grille on the S Class. Everything else has some version of an opening with slats going this way one year, that way the next year – concave, convex, flat – all with a big star in the middle that if it wasn’t there, you could just as well be looking at a Buick.
Meanwhile, once you’re out of warranty – budget at least $2500/year for maintenance. For a C Class. Once you’re in SL or S Class league – if it’s an everyday driver – better make that at least $10,000 annually.
And what brand needs 13 SUVs?
This is a great take. MB really dropped the ball with their current lineup. I think that they really hit their stride in the mid-to-late 2010s with the R231, W222, and W205 cars. You really hit the nail on the head with the new SL/GT, the new S class isn’t as special or poised as the old one, and once again the new C class (especially AMG ones) is mediocre at best They truly made a mess of their current offerings.
Wow I’m glad to see I’m not the only person driven mad by the e class plastic black grille surround!
“You can’t get even a Maybach (which is just a $200,000 stretched S Class) or an SL without huge swathes of black plastic and carpet – Meanwhile, over at Porsche & Bentley you have far more color choices.”
I am not sure what is your problem. I looked up Mercedes-Benz USA website and selected Mercedes-Maybach S 680. I was able to get the plastic and carpet in colour I wanted (Macchiato Beige/Bronze Brown Pearl Exclusive Nappa leather).
I don’t know about you, but Mercedes-Benz USA does offer the customisation programme called “Manufaktur“. You can specify the colour and such for extra cost.
Well in the used car market you can grab a 450+, which has the most range, for less than half of it’s original price with full Mercedes warranty in most cases. I grabbed one for $52k OTD with 20k miles. It took me 2 weeks to get a charger installed in the garage. I’m loving not waiting in line at Costco for gas.
The EQS looks like a suppository. The Germans cared more about efficiency, than making a desirable car.
Fast EV Chargers Will Outnumber Gas Stations In 2032
However, EVs charge slowly. I don’t know all the options, or how fast a Tesla is or whatever, but this review seemed to think that 13min for 100miles (at 239kW) was really fast.
That’s 7.7 miles per minute.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g46011090/fastest-slowest-ev-charging-times-tested/
On the other hand, gas stations in the US pump fuel at 10gal/minute (40gal/minute for commercial trucks.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_pump
Given a 2022 All-Manufacturer fleet average fuel economy of 26mpg, that’s an average of 260 miles per minute.
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-12/420s23002.pdf
So, Gas stations transfer energy (measured as miles) 33.8 times faster than EV chargers.
There will be more EV chargers because they are slow, and there needs to be more of them.
Until there are 34x more EV chargers than Gas stations, I don’t think it’s symbolic of much except the inefficient transfer.
While you’re right, the only places that will actually need 34x as many chargers as gas pumps are interstate-adjacent rest stops… Which will be a problem.
Here in Toronto, gas stations are disappearing and being replaced by mostly residential towers. It’s much easier to have charging bays in underground garages than fuel dispensing systems. From an urban perspective, this change is already happening, but mostly for real estate reasons.
That’s awesome and crazy to hear that gas stations are disappearing.
A meer 3 hours south of Toronto in Erie, PA where I live there are only two sets of public chargers I am aware of, a large set of Tesla chargers by the Cracker Barrel Restaurant and 4 Electrify America chargers at the Walmart across the street. Actually there are still fuel stations being built around here.
It is getting to the point where I will probably see an electric car each time I drive somewhere around town.
I drove an EQC I borrowed from my father in law for a month around Germany in 2021 and then the updated model in 2023. They were…fine. While the range was acceptable, the interior was a lot smaller than I would expect. I had my family with me and cramming 2 adults, 2 kids and all our crap definitely was a bit of a challenge.
My biggest problem with them though was that they were fucking hideous. A true old person vehicle if I’ve ever seen one. The 2023 also had some annoying rattle from somewhere that a car costing that much should not have had.
Still, they worked. We took them all over the south of Germany. And I was very grateful to have a car provided free of charge.
Your father-in-law really should have gotten the battery up to 80% before handing you the (equivalent to the) keys.
Nope – still don’t have any kids, and still don’t know why you all keep asking me that.
You can be an honorary dad with joked like that. I’ve already put your name in. Membership card is on its way.
Mercedes lost their advantage when they stopped equipping amber rear turn signals. It was a clear sign of accepted mediocrity.
If I were forced to buy a mainline German-brand luxury vehicle I’d still choose the Mercedes over the ghastly-styled BMW or problematic and staid Audi option, but that’s not saying much. None are in my top-5 as luxury marques go.
I lost interest in MB when they moved on from ribbed tail light lenses. Well, for many other reasons too.
And separate chrome grille, last adorned on W126 S-Class, W201 190, and W124 E-Class. They look very stately and majestic…
It was a sign. Sacco was the beginning of the end.
The design language is awful. Exterior reminds me of blob GM, the interior remind me of my GFs purse. The only product that appeals to me is the G-wagon, because at least you can see the clear heritage on that one.
It’s underwhelming and lacks grave, yeah, but I wouldn’t categorize it as “awful”. More like GTA-like mishmash to avoid looking too distinctive. “Awful” in that space would be the horrendous garbage BMW has been chucking at our faces the last few, uh, decades.
Blob GM without any of the nostalgia
To me they looked like a car that’s encased in a thin acrylic or clear plastic case, like a phone.
MBZ needs to get back to building stately vehicles. Their current blobby designs don’t convey status, which is the whole point of a European luxury car. Say what you will about the new 7 series, but in two tone paint, it has real gravitas, something the boss would drive. Genesis Gwhatever, the big one, has more presence than the current S Class. Also, love the Simpsons reference.
I test drove a new C-class not long ago. I found it to rely even more heavily than other brands on a touch screen, and I disliked that there was no volume knob. The car itself was wonderful – drove nicely, comfortable seats, etc. But, the price was just slightly higher than BMW, Audi and Cadillac for an equivalent car. Mercedes has always been more, but it just didn’t seem *better* than other options, except for it being a mild hybrid which was interesting. I personally like their current design language, but I think they missed the mark offering a specialized electric lineup (EQS). What BMW is doing makes more sense – offer electric cars more closely related to existing models (i4, i5). I think realistically, Mercedes could have an advantage in offering plug in hybrid versions of their existing models (C, E, GLE, etc), but at the moment that doesn’t seem to be their focus.
It used to be that a large logo on the grill was only for sporty Mercedes. The rest got the hood ornament. I don’t follow M-B so I don’t know when or why they made this change.
Pedestrian safety, I bet.
No, it has to do with customer preference (two previous generations of E-Class with jet-engine intake Panamera grille outsold the ones with “stately” grille, for instance).
The three-point star ornament is spring-loaded so it would fold away or pivot when hit by the pedestrian. This has been a Mercedes-Benz feature for many decades.
I can think of some.
Mercedes actually hits its EPA range at 75mph (as does BMW). Tesla only hits its EPA specs at 65-68mph depending on model, because they fudge their efficiency numbers and use up the emergency buffer in testing.Tesla’s autopilot still causes phantom braking because they got rid of the radar sensors — no such issue with Mercedes.Mercedes Drive Pilot is the only SAE Level-3 autonomous driving system on sale in the US, and Mercedes puts their money where their mouth is by taking legal liability if it crashes your car. Tesla’s FSD is SAE Level-2, and if it wrecks you, all you get is ridiculed on Twitter.The EQS and Model S have the same 10-80% charging time — and the EQS gets more range with that charge.Versus a BMW i5 or i7 or Lucid Air, the EQS has a massive trunk with a liftback.I dunno, some people like the “glass jellybean starship” aesthetic I guess.By far the most frustrating part of comparing EVs is that the EPA specs are kind of worthless. Mercedes and BMW fudged their numbers down because they were afraid of disappointing their customers. Tesla fudged theirs up because they’re afraid of being seen as second-best. Likewise, manufacturers don’t always publish charging times. You have to aggregate all that data from third-party testing.
You have to be a damn detective to know what you’re getting eith an EV.
These are some valid arguments, thank you!
I would argue it’s not just the EV’s that Mercedes are struggling with. The C63 seems to have had an overwhelmingly negative reception, the new SL seems to be meh, the AMG GT seems to be generally positive review wise but is too expensive for what it is. My guess is they will adopt more of BMW’s model and electrify core models rather than try a separate EV range.
Bring back the E-Class wagon without its Outback-spec black plastic trim.
And make it reliable to own for 8 years. Then I’ll pony up for one. Me and 3 others, who are probably on this site.
Somewhere along the way, Mercedes seems to have decided they needed to focus on flashy crap instead of the core of the vehicle. They want younger customers or something?
You can get customizable interior lighting, a lit up star on your grill, and a giant surround screen on the dash but the exterior looks boring and doesn’t do anything special when you actually drive it.
I’m in!
The old Stud Farm folks need to stop making cars that look like prophylactics and put some sexy back in the breed. Maybe then folks will be willing to cough up the big stud fees they’re demanding.
“I mentioned that the VW-Rivian deal was a bad sign for the industry, as it showed even a large company with a lot of engineers like VW couldn’t get out of its own way when it comes to developing the key software required to make modern vehicles.”
I wouldn’t say it’s a bad sign for the industry per se. It’s just more learning and UN-learning legacy automakers have to do.
I recall touching on this more than once around 10 years ago when others would claim “Once legacy OEMs make their own BEVs, then Tesla will be out of business”… and my counterpoint was and still is that even with all the money in the world, it still takes time to sweat the details to get to where Tesla (or even Rivian) is.
And one problem a lot of legacy OEMs have is a desire to reuse ICE vehicle parts which might get the vehicle designed and out the door faster, but it results in a sub-optimal design with higher costs and worse performance.
This Munro video that shows the difference between the Mach E and Model Y cooling system is exactly what I’m talking about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1kHsd3Ocxc
“Mercedes, huh? What do we think? What do they need to do?”
They need to keep working on making their BEV tech better. They also need to reduce model overlap which I think they have already started doing. And they need to gradually replace ICE vehicles with BEVs
I absolutely love the look of the Mercedes IMSA GT cars and cheer for them on the track. In the showroom, not so much. Lean back into your racing heritage, MB.
I think the designers and engineers in Stuttgart need to watch this video and then probably grow their hair out.
https://mercedes-benz-publicarchive.com/marsClassic/en/instance/video/Mercedes-Benz-W-123—Ein-Filmbericht-aus-der-Entwicklung.xhtml?oid=47939&ls=L2VuL2luc3RhbmNlL2tvLzEyMy1zZXJpZXMtc2Fsb29ucy0xOTc1LS0tMTk4NS54aHRtbD9vaWQ9NTA4NyZyZWxJZD0xMDAxJnJlc3VsdEluZm9UeXBlSWQ9MTczJmZyb21PaWQ9NTA4NyZ2aWV3VHlwZT1saXN0JnNvcnREZWZpbml0aW9uPW1hbnVhbHNvcnQtMSZ0aHVtYlNjYWxlSW5kZXg9MSZyb3dDb3VudHNJbmRleD01JmZyb21JbmZvVHlwZUlkPTIyNDU!&rs=2
Last year a good friend leased a GLE and were very excited about getting the car. Had it built to their spec and everything. Last month they traded it in on an X5 and took a big hit to do so. They disliked the car that much.
When AMG lost it’s meaning so did Mercedes
The new AMG C and GLC models are a crime against humanity
I miss the 6.3 (6.2L) days