G. David Felt

FAILURE AGAIN, The whole PURPOSE of 10 years stated data is to compare the bell curve of where they were and where they are and how the sales are doing. YOU CHOOSE TO HIDE the Facts of that data by saying you do not want to really look it up. MAN UP, If you want to Support BENZ, then MAN UP, POST THE FACTS, Be Honest otherwise you are no different than a deceitful lying sales person who wants to live in the grey cloud of fuzzy facts rather than address the real facts. WHY? Instant Gratification! Man UP!!! RESPECT is EARNED by Facts and Hard Work. I am NOT Perfect, and I know I have messed up some of my own facts, but I will always admit I made a mistake if someone points it out and I have overlooked it. I try my best @smk4565 to engage you and discuss the facts of the auto industry, but where you FAIL is when you ignore the REAL FACTS of what is going on. Man Up, Do the Work and Post the 10 years of SUV sales by model so EVERYONE can either say YES, SMK is Right, or We debate why they have peaked and sales are falling off. Cadillac has killed off product that sales were not supporting, Sales have gone done, but they have focused on being a true Luxury Auto Line. That is a big Difference where they are focusing on their niche market, Mercedes has choosen to become the Chevrolet of German Brands and BMW is right there with them. I saw a BMW 2 series today, wow, what a piece of junk. No different than the A, B and C series of Mercedes. I can only imagen that the BMW 1 series is just as bad. HOW will the Germans beat Tesla when they cannot focus on the segment that grew them? Cadillac will be more competition to Tesla than Mercedes or BMW and NO showing off the EQS top of the line interior that is on so few EQS that you cannot say they will beat Tesla.

And @smk4565 continues to follow idiots in this world with FUD and grey scale evasive tactics rather than stick to the facts that would take away his delusion of Mercedes is no longer a luxury auto maker, but a mass market auto maker with some luxury autos and many generic appliance autos. You STILL have not provided any evidence as I have to assume that if you actually did the work like me, you would find that Mercedes SUVs are also down, down down over the past decade as they have peaked in the Past! ? Will you ever actually compare an Apple to an Apple? I doubt it.

We'll Rocket Scientist, why not go do what I did for their SUVs so you can see how they dropped too since per your own acknowledgement, they dropped from 374k to 329K, a drop of 45K which is more than the sedans alone, so that implies they dropped across their car/suv product line.

Worse yet is if they go Corvette-EV Z-06

We are snowing in the Mountains YAH!!! Rain off and on in the Lowlands, upper 40s today and this weekend. Have started to get the yard going also like @Robert Hall Front Grass is thatched and cleaned up last week, fertilized it, put down moss killer also, right now a nice dark green. Back yard is in total remodel mode, have my garden area, but re-doing the rest to level out the yard, will take some pics and post later.

Yes, very true, but putting it into perspective, the current Vette has balsa wood inside the chassis to allow for lite weight but a bit stronger / rigid frame. So, we replace that combo with Carbon Fiber for even less weight and with the use of Solid-State batteries, which are supposed to cut in half the size of the existing Lithium-Ion battery packs, I see no reason to not go from the current 1,000 lbs 100kWh pack to a 500 lb or bit less 100 kWh pack. Just as we have seen weight saving in the full size truck and SUV market due to new tech uses of special metal, I can see this also happening in the Corvette / Camaro for performance but from a carbon fiber / Solid-State battery approach. BMW did it with the i8 and i3 and I think GM could do this with a Corvette E

Don't mess with Mother Nature!

Imagin the Corvett with the Tri-motor 1,000 hp system from the hummer with new Solid-State Ultium battery pack for lower weight, higher energy density. That would destroy everyone I think.

Yes happy April Fools day to you and everyone here.

We'll the up-and-coming professional youth in the Tech Industry has spoken, just on a zoom meeting and at the end we as always open it up if there is time for random chat. No one really seemed to have anything to discuss, so I asked if I could ask a simple question that was not related to tech work. What do people think of when they hear Mercedes-Benz? I honestly was not surprised to hear luxury, expensive, German. What surprised me was the numerous comments of why buy old tech in an Auto when Tesla is the luxury leader. That comment that got people really talking surprised me. It was interesting to hear many say they are waiting for Apple to start auto production. I also was surprised to hear folks mention how excited they were for Lucid and Rivian, but a few also said it was awesome to see Hummer back and they were excited to see one and possibly buy one. Yes, I work at a technology company, so it is no surprise to hear people talk about going EV. Yet many like some here said they were holding out till the true $30,000 EVs hit the market by 2025. It would seem there is plenty of pent-up demand for EVs and plenty of people willing to wait out the pandemic with their existing ICE auto till EVs are brought in. I would have to say we are in very fluid times of the auto industry and the customers are going to speak, right now I am hearing lots of folks are waiting for EVs in the lower tier of pricing. Chevrolet could find themselves in a very high demand market share when they deliver the Equinox at the end of this year for production.

So this took me some time as I wanted to confirm facts and I have done that while it has taken some time. Using https://media.mbusa.com and https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/mercedes-benz-us-figures/ Here is how Mercedes has done for the last Decade. Every Dog has it's day and as Mercedes has pushed into the APPLIANCE Market of competing with Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan, Ford they have diluted their Luxury Status pretty much each year and while we will all agree that the Pandemic of 2020 to 2022 has hit the auto industry in many weird ways, as per your own past statements, SALES is the final fact. Not going to waste time adding in all the AMG variations as their sales numbers are so small and my time is valuable, but looking at the 3 main classes, one can clearly see a long term decline in the Luxury level of Mercedes sales.

Some great fine points, but I do wonder ? as Porsche fans/Owners of 911 have always said that if Porsche could get a true 50/50 weight distribution the car would be untouchable by everyone. Could an EV version, awd with a perfect 50/50 weight distribution finally be the Golden Goose of the Porsche Sports car? Yes we know EVs are currently heavy, but with Solid-State batteries on the horizon and also more energy dense Lithium-Sulfur batteries finally seeming to overcome their shortcomings, one does have to wonder how lite and nimble the 911 EV will become. ?

So then lets look at Mercedes Mercedes-Benz U.S Sales Figures (carsalesbase.com) Looks great but has been declining since about 2013. Detailed look going even farther back they sell less than Cadillac until the last decade when Mercedes pushed into Toyota/Chevrolet territory where the bulk of sales are. H'mmm ? Mercedes we have a problem, you peaked in 2016 and have been going down since then here in the U.S. Per the link above, their luxury level autos are in the DUMP. They have grown till 2016/2017 on the back of to quote the statistic sites building generic Nissan / Toyota type appliance autos. One would have to question if Mercedes is flying high versus Cadillac. 2021 US Vehicle Sales Figures By Model | GCBC (goodcarbadcar.net) If we look at this and take out everything below C-Class and Vans, this tells another whole story of falling sales and a lack of flying high in the luxury segment.

I have to laugh as I totally agree, the Panamera is one butt ugly car, yet with that said, I am aware of multiple coworkers who own them and I have ridden in them, tight, small and not for me, but they do get up and roar and drive as they say like it was on rails!

Korea's Institute for Basic Science or IBS has announced that they believe quantum charging of EV batteries will cut home charging from 10 hours to 3 minutes and public fast charging from 30 minutes to 9 seconds. As society moves to renewable energy or green energy due to humanity outstripping the ability for finite nature fossil fuels to support, one must also consider on how that energy gets to the end user. R&D around the world into renewable sources has accompanied the gradual societal changes of the world adopting new products and devices running on new storage supported by the option to choose your power supply and in this case renewable or green energy. The rapid adoption of electric vehicles, while hardly seen on roads 10 years ago, now account for millions being sold and a common sight. As a rapidly growing segment, one item holds back massive adoption of the less complex, cleaner running electric-vehicle, CHARGING! Tesla has their worldwide Supercharging network but even that is not yet at the 800V fast charging that some like Porsche, GMC-Hummer and a few others are supporting and the fast-charging stations still are rare so getting a fast charge in 15 minutes is rare compared to a more common charge from home at 110v or 220v charging overnight leaving people to either sit at a fast charging station for 30 to 45 minutes or park, charge while shopping or eating to pass the time. For the longest time, batteries have had the traditional lead/acid storage medium with far lower density than that offered by hydrocarbons, resulting in short range for electric autos. Battery technology has improved in allowing Tesla to have some of the first 300-mile range EVs. Others like GM with their Chevrolet Bolt have had over 200 plus miles allowing for solid performing commuter autos. Battery storage technology is the main bottleneck to moving from ICE to electric autos and only recently has lithium-ion batteries gotten to a solid point where various options are now coming onto the market in truck and SUV form in addition the rapidly shrinking market for cars. Despite the advances in battery tech, recharging these massive battery packs is still up to a 10 hour overnight charging at home or a 20-to-40-minute recharge at a Tesla Super Station. Oil companies are buying up charging startup companies to ensure they keep their gas stations modern by moving to a convenience station that offers both ICE and EV charging along with shopping, eating, etc. Still the speed of charging is a problem and with those two things are on the horizon, solid-state batteries and new ways to charge said batteries. As new problems show up, new approaches are found and in this, the mysterious field of Quantum Physics. Current research is allowing for discovery on new quantum technologies that promise the delivery of faster charging rates to both existing lithium-ion batteries and the upcoming solid-state batteries. This approach is the "Collective versus Parallel" charging which was actually published in 2012 by Alicki and Fannes about the concept of Quantum battery. QUOTE: "The paper theorized that quantum resources, such as entanglement, can be used to vastly speed up the battery charging process by charging all cells within the battery simultaneously in a collective manner." This Quantum Charging Advantage can be taken advantage of by the fact that a Tesla has numerous cells in their large battery pack. This would allow charging of all cells in collective versus todays approach of a parallel or serial charging system. The IBS has a Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems which explored in depth the questions surrounding Quantum charging, the research showed that the presence of global operations is the only ingredient needed in the quantum advantage. This group has pinpointed the exact source of this advantage while ruling out any other possibilities per the release from IBS including an explicit way to design such batteries that can handle a Quantum Charging approach. QUOTE of the IBS Press Release: the group was able to precisely quantify how much charging speed can be achieved in this scheme. While the maximum charging speed increases linearly with the number of cells in classical batteries, the study showed that quantum batteries employing global operation can achieve quadratic scaling in charging speed. To illustrate this, we will consider a typical electric vehicle with a battery that contains about 200 cells. Employing this quantum charging would lead to a 200 times speedup over classical batteries, which means that at home charging time would be cut from 10 hours to about 3 minutes. At high-speed charging stations, the charge time would be cut from 30 minutes to mere seconds. Researchers say that consequences can be far-reaching and that the implications of quantum charging can go well beyond electric cars and consumer electronics. For example, it may find key uses in future fusion power plants, which require large amounts of energy to be charged and discharged in an instant. Of course, quantum technologies are still in their infancy and there is a long way to go before these methods can be implemented in practice. Research findings such as these, however, create a promising direction and can incentivize the funding agencies and businesses to further invest in these technologies. If employed, it is believed that quantum batteries would completely revolutionize the way we use energy and take us a step closer to our sustainable future. For people used to technology, we have seen companies like IBM invest in Quantum computing with amazing results that have accelerated computing direction over the last two decades to super computers being the size of a smartphone. This same research and approach is being looked into by the existing battery companies such as LG, Samsung and more. While we will not see Quantum battery packs or chargers by 2025, with the advance pace of Solid-State batteries, one could very well see the first few implementations of Quantum battery packs by 2030 as well as chargers. One might wonder is there any company out there that is already looking to commercialize this Quantum Charging technology other than being a theoretical paper from a school such as IBS of Korea? I give you ACT - Advanced Charging technologies of Texas. An American tech company that has been focused on keeping technology at the forefront of their products and services. While this is not a fully Quantum Charging solution that IBS has published in theory, it is a charging solution for warehouse forklifts that uses the cloud with collective charging of multiple battery packs to ensure forklift needs are available at all times. As ACT has stated about their Quantum Technology Uninterrupted operations due to built-in redundancy and modular design Wireless cloud integration with ACTview and ACTintelligent software Remote software and firmware updates Reduced power consumption and costs Intuitive user interface A smart-grid-ready solution-focused charging solution that reduces maintenance and replacement costs. Quantum Charging is about being all aware to ensure all cells are being given what they need to get fully charged as fast as possible. One can do searches and find many different Quantum chargers. Some are in name only it would seem, where others are clearly focused on recharging battery packs for use in the medical field to industry such as autos. Consider a 100 kWh battery pack that has over 200 cells and how a quantum battery charger would talk to all cells at the same time, giving each cell what it needs to reach 100% fully charged, thus reducing the charge cycle and giving a faster response to fully charged desire. Interested in more research papers, check out their engineering paper site: Institute for Basic Science (ibs.re.kr) New technology to make charging electric cars as fast as pumping gas (ibs.re.kr) Institute for Basic Science (ibs.re.kr) Advanced Charging Technologies | <span class="notranslate">Quantum</span> (act-chargers.com) View full article

I totally get the desire for a V8 and the sound of the engine, while I never have been in the Porsche Taycan and I doubt I would fit, everything I read about their first EV is that it drives like any other Porsche and is extremely enthralling to feel the low punch in the gut off the line and any time you punch the accelerator. My gut feeling is we will see people other than more hardcore auto enthusiasts that feel they must have the motor sound, will embrace EVs heavily once there are options. I truly think that if Chevrolet delivers a quality EV in the Equinox for a starting price of $30K, they will grab considerable market share.

Cadillac at least is in the top for JD Powers quality, rating and recommended buy and I also see BMW, but I do not see Mercedes. So how is being rated top and selling with one of the highest ATP as a luxury division not flying high when Mercedes has had to push into the low end to keep sales going and profits going? Yes Lincoln needs work and has an uphill fight ahead of them, but I do not think they are out yet. I would be more worried about a company that has to produce thousands of generic blah looking auto's and sell on a badge at low atp than a company that sells the most trucks at some very high atp's.

The Hits keep coming and Tesla has appealed the verdict, but we knew it was bound to happen. German Court has ordered Tesla to take back and refund the $69,000 Euro's for an owner who has proven that the auto self driving does not work with the existing hardware and is not safe. Court Makes Tesla Buy Back Model 3: Owner Unhappy With Autopilot (insideevs.com) I suspect Tesla is going to find themselves in a very difficult situation as they push forward the crazy self-driving cost of $12,000 and a yearly fee to have something that is still in Beta form and not allowed for most people yet even though you have paid for it.

So true, currently there is NOTHING available for me to choose to buy yet. The local Ford Dealers have no Mach-E in stock to check out and test fit my size in. Rivian Store in Bellevue Washington has no demo unit either. Tesla is a NO GO, too small as I tried all 4 current models and too poor of quality for me to even consider. Not buying any new ICE auto, so I have about 3 years to wait, I think.

At least you can get low mileage auto insurance. Did that when the Pandemic started and saved a ton. Then with my kids and me now permanent work from home people, moved all the autos on our insurance to low mileage as at most maybe 5 to 6 K miles a year. Most we drive is up the highway to the pass to ski.

2021 was a banner year for Porsche AG as it delivered for the first time world-wide 301,915 vehicles to customers. While this is the first time the company has ever sold 300,000 plus new vehicles in a year, it was done on the back of their 3 most popular models. Macan - 88,362 Cayenne 83,071 Taycan - 41,296 - First EV for the company, overtook the 911 sports car which sold 38,464 This was an 11% increase in sales over 2020. On top of this, 40% of the Porsche sold in Europe alone were Hybrid versions of the top two selling autos. Porsche says they will produce and sell half of all global sales as some form of EV, either pure BEV or Plug-in Hybrid by 2025. With this lofty goal in reach according to executives, they have set a goal of 80% of Global auto sales in 2030 shall be pure EV. To help achieve that, Porsche is investing in premium charging stations with partners globally in addition to their own 800 V charging systems at their dealerships. Furthermore, Porsche is investing in new battery technology such as solid-state in their new Cellforce Group, with these high-performance battery packs coming online in mass productions by 2024. China was Porsche largest global market, followed by the U.S., then Germany. With a focus on an IPO for Porsche AG going independent, they have committed long-term to a joint EV development R&D with Volkswagen that will benefit from the joint synergies in the future. So how does Porsche expect to reach 80% electric-vehicle sales by 2030? Electrification of all models and the stopping of ICE production as the electric models come online by a staggard year or so. Porsche has the electric version of the Macan and Cayenne coming out and the next autos are their 911 and 718 to be pure electric. Porsche believes the public want to go electric sooner rather than later and with the following sales figures believes it can achieve this. 180142_en_3000000.mp4 Quote: Sales in 2021 were €33.1 billion, €4.4 billion more than in the previous year, representing growth of 15 percent (previous year's sales: €28.7 billion). Operating profit was €5.3 billion, exceeding the previous year's figure by €1.1 billion (plus 27 percent). Porsche thus generated an operating return on sales of 16.0 percent (previous year: 14.6 percent). The last Porsche to go Electric will be the 918 series. Porsche's ambition for 2030: More than 80 percent all-electric new vehicles - Porsche Newsroom Cellforce to set up production in proximity to Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen - Porsche Newsroom Porsche delivers more than 300,000 vehicles - Porsche Newsroom Prototypes of the all-electric Macan: both digital and real - Porsche Newsroom View full article

As far as average miles driven, many sources but seems to roll between 14,200 to 14,400 now. Average Miles Driven Per Year: Why It Is Important - Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com) How Much Is The Average Car Payment In America? + 21 Stats! (simplyinsurance.com) Average miles driven per year by state - CarInsurance.com Average Miles Driven per Year: The Info You Need to Know » (way.com)

Let's take a REAL BUSINESS LOOK at Tesla, putting accounting into effect, Tesla is a money questionable business putting off paying debt into the future. tsla-20210630-gen.pdf (tesla.com) Here is the End Report of Tesla 2021, December 31st. If they had to pay all the debt incurred and liabilities, they would not be where you think they are today. Being a darling, they are able to play the shell game well. The big benefit is that it finally forced the Legacy OEMs to finally put up or shut up and many are stepping up to compete. Be interesting to see where this is in 2025.