Mercedes Unveils First Tesla Rival in $12 Billion Attack
Mercedes-Benz, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, is rolling out its first in a series of battery-powered models, adding to a growing array of high-end brands targeting Tesla Inc.
The Mercedes EQC crossover starts production in the first half of next year, part of a plan to develop its EQ electric line, Daimler AG Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche told reporters in Stockholm at the model's world premiere. The company intended to invest 10 billion euros ($12 billion) in its electric-vehicle push but has ended up spending "more than that," he said Tuesday, without specifying figures.
"There is no alternative to betting on electric cars, and we're going all in," Zetsche said. "It is starting right now."
The car joins the Porsche Taycan, Audi E-tron and Jaguar I-Pace in putting pressure on Tesla as the California-based carmaker struggles to hit Model 3 production targets and earn profits. Mercedes plans to assemble the EQC at its factory in Bremen, where the automaker also makes its best-selling C-Class sedan. Daimler will build the car in China for the local market.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @07:40PM (4 children)
German cars with electronic power train? German electronics?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday September 09 2018, @08:02PM (1 child)
Better than German cars with diesel power trains and German electronics.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday September 09 2018, @09:31PM
That would be cars with diesel power trains using German software, if you care about the environment or human health impacts of diesel soot - so many people appear not to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gcb84qn3mU [youtube.com]
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by ikanreed on Monday September 10 2018, @02:33PM
Well, I never really liked what the germans did with gas.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 10 2018, @07:45PM
Would you really prefer English electrical car systems ?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday September 09 2018, @07:42PM (8 children)
Makes one wonder: was that $12B just sitting around waiting for a worthy moon-shot project, or were they investing similar sums in advanced cup-holder design and pneumatic door closer refinements during the past 10 years? If it was being put into worthy R&D, I suppose those areas of R&D are dead now, or at least $12B poorer than they used to be.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Sunday September 09 2018, @07:52PM (7 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_AG [wikipedia.org]
$12 billion over multiple years is not breaking the bank.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday September 09 2018, @09:28PM
One year's net income is neither a trifle... that's more than most people spend on a car.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday September 10 2018, @01:03AM
Do they get tax break for R&D, if they do, that $12B could be a lot less as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @01:26AM (4 children)
Euros use period instead comma to mark off three digits, so it's confusing if "164.xxx billion" means 164 billion or 164 trillion.
Note that the US gdp is double digit trillion dollars, and that's the biggest economy in the world.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Monday September 10 2018, @07:21AM (2 children)
U.S. notation is superior.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @09:36AM
No, as demonstrated, it is not.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday September 10 2018, @04:56PM
I'd be willing to adopt the metric system for distance measurements, if they'd be willing to adopt US notation.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 10 2018, @07:48PM
Nitpick : EU GDP is the biggest in the world.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by crafoo on Sunday September 09 2018, @07:44PM (9 children)
As we all know, nothing new or interesting comes from GM, Ford, or Chrysler. Furthermore, what Italian and GB manufacturers are left are still trying to nail down electronics and finally fix all of those dashboard electrical fires. German auto manufacturers innovate and perfects new technology. GM rips it off 5-10 years later, poorly. Ford and Chrysler build the fatally flawed cheap versions. GB adds the wood panelling and double-stiched leather.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday September 09 2018, @07:57PM (3 children)
"Interesting" doesn't pay the bills [cnbc.com]:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Sunday September 09 2018, @08:12PM (1 child)
True. I heard Ford was considering dropping everything but trucks, SUVs, and maybe fleet vehicles.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by nitehawk214 on Monday September 10 2018, @03:23PM
And pony cars.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 10 2018, @09:33PM
> citing "significant shortfall" in the Model 3 production rate
estimates the August number at 17800, or plainly half of all US plug-in vehicles. [insideevs.com]
Cleantechnica [cleantechnica.com] places the Model 3 as the highest revenue of any car in the US in August.
Yes margins are not great, debt is a problem, and Elon needs to step away from Twitter.
But "significant shortfall" ? That's a really stupid formulation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @08:06PM
Bimmers perfected spontaneous combustiion. Even parked bimmers blow up in flame.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @08:22PM
another anti-Tesla journalism hit piece
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Monday September 10 2018, @05:45PM (2 children)
It's completely fair to say Detroit rested on its laurels and let the world pass it by for more than 30 years from the 1970s through the 2000s. But they've gotten much better and are competitive now.
In the American market, smaller turbocharged engines for mainstream vehicles was rare outside of Volkswagen. Ford is leading the charge there, and other companies are following. Ford's Sync entertainment system was buggy and maybe still is buggy, but I think it was one of the first non-luxury voice controlled entertainment systems in the American market. They have aluminum frame half-ton capacity pickups, an industry first.
GM was the first automaker to introduce a plug-in electric vehicle with a generator on board to extend the range, the Chevy Volt. The Chevy Bolt (B instead of V in the Volt) is one of the first full electric vehicles in the US market, after the Tesla and after the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi Miev but before any full electric vehicle from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai/Kia, or Volkswagen hit the US market. GM is also the first automaker to spread cylinder deactivation technology across parts of its lineup. ( Honda also uses cylinder deactivation, I don't think other automakers have adopted it yet. ) GM took a lot of abuse for sticking with pushrod valve actuation without variable-valve-timing in their V-shaped engines when most of the auto industry switched to overhead camshaft valve actuation engines with variable-valve-timing. But GMs' pushrod engines have variable-valve-timing now.
Chrysler is probably in last place technologically of the Detroit automakers, but they have the first hybrid minivan in the US market.
More generally, all three automakers now have vehicles competitive in their class for crash safety (in fact, Ford and GM routinely outdo Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai/Kia, and Volkswagen for crash safety), fuel economy, acceleration, reliability, entertainment options, lane-departure warning systems, automatic forward collision prevention, eight speed transmissions, ten speed transmissions, etc...
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Monday September 10 2018, @09:19PM (1 child)
I have a F150 with the sync system and it isn't too bad. The display crashes every other startup. It never ever reconnects over bluetooth. I have to go 2 menu levels down every time I get in the car to reconnect. USB cable connection isn't too bad though and it supports a few music apps on the phone.
I make fun of the USA automakers quite a bit but I've driven Ford mustangs and trucks for about 20 years now with no real complaints.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Tuesday September 11 2018, @02:02AM
We have a Ford Flex (midsize SUV) with an early version of Sync without a display. Bluetooth for phones works okay with some phones and doesn't work at all with others, and voice control for music on the phone or on a USB flash drive works pretty well. So far the reliability is decent, but my parents' Flex died for good at under 150k miles, which is disappointing. Our other current vehicle is a Chrysler Pacifica minivan. 30k miles so far without a single mechanical problem, other than an entertainment system that hangs once every few weeks until you press the reset button (press and hold the volume and tune buttons for 15 seconds).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by stretch611 on Sunday September 09 2018, @08:05PM
Does it include a (funny) cigarette lighter? preferably with a roach clip.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @08:25PM (1 child)
hehehehehhbeee
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @10:47PM
New level of OSHA, "quick, before ze germans get here!"
(Score: 2) by RedIsNotGreen on Sunday September 09 2018, @09:40PM
Might be a diesel engine hidden under the trunk to boost the stats :D
(Score: 4, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Sunday September 09 2018, @10:22PM (7 children)
Yet Another Tesla Killer.
Don't get me wrong, getting the the legacy manufacturers off their collective petroleum dependency and onto EVs is great, but they still don't understand.
Let me know when I can drive this Mercedes from New York City to Redondo Beach, CA ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Baker_Sea-To-Shining-Sea_Memorial_Trophy_Dash [wikipedia.org] ). A Tesla can accomplish this in 50 hours because Tesla invested in building thousands of Supercharger stations. The Legacy manufacturers believe that's SOP - Someone Else's Problem.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @11:45PM
Did you mean Someone Olse's problem? Or did you confuse that with Standard Eperating Proceedure?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by arslan on Monday September 10 2018, @01:07AM
You're right none of these manufacturers get it. The real Tesla killer looks like it is going to be Elon himself as his brain explodes again and again...
That said, Elon has achieved a lot in pushing everyone else to get serious about EVs - regardless of what happens or doesn't happen with Tesla hopefully it is a real mindset change and not just a fad with these manufacturers.
(Score: 5, Informative) by FatPhil on Monday September 10 2018, @03:48AM (1 child)
You youngsters are like Green Day fans who think they invented punk.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday September 10 2018, @03:32PM
That was from over 10 years ago, filled with speculation about events that happened 25 years ago.
Useful to learn from past mistakes, but not necessarily a prediction of the future.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 10 2018, @12:03PM (2 children)
That's true, but it's more than that. To answer the inevitable objection that those supercharger stations were merely shifting carbon emissions from the car to the power plant, Tesla powered theirs with solar panels. To enable mass production, Tesla built the Giga factory. To anticipate the inevitable transition to autonomous cars, Teslas either already have driver-assist or are ready for that upgrade if/when a car owner wants to. To make sure early adopters don't regret moving first, the company has OTA updates to keep everybody current.
The thinking is strategic and multi-layered. In a free market, such prescience has to win out.
This does underscore that the other luxury brands, and even many of the mass-market brands, are chasing Tesla. Last year at the Frankfurt Auto Show everyone was showing off their EV models. Now Mercedes is making this move. To everyone out there who has pooh-poohed EVs, saying they'll never replace the ICE, do you still think that?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Monday September 10 2018, @02:28PM (1 child)
Is it possible to believe that Tesla is a terrible company, Elon is a piece of shit, and that the internal combustion engine's days are numbered? Because that's what I believe.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 10 2018, @05:20PM
Sure you can, but then i was talking about the ICE faithful, not you.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @09:42AM
So clickbaity and everything is a war or an attack... LAME-O