#MercedesBenz

With rich people now wealthier than ever before, they need ways of spending that money that are novel, effective, and allow them to flex on their peers. One of the preferred ways of doing this in the modern era is by taking trips beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s something SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and Boeing have been working on. But they’re about to get some new competition from Mercedes-Benz.

Marketing buzzwords and questionable advertising practices have led many to believe that self-driving cars are a real thing that people can go out and buy today. However, despite the fact that some automakers literally call their driver assistance tech “self-driving,” there are precisely zero fully autonomous cars on sale. While it will be years before truly self-driving cars become a reality, automakers are developing more advanced systems that have much of the autonomous experience with some caveats. Mercedes is set to be the first company to offer a Level 3 system, which enables hands-free driving in most situations but requires a human’s attention at all times.

Yes, we know – news of a crossover with ‘coupe-like’ styling isn’t likely to raise the pulse of many commenters, especially one painted approximately the same color as the pavement on which it is driven. The new GLC Coupe may be a stern German shown in a dour shade of paint, but its 671 horsepower and 752 lb-ft of torque make it anything but boring.

Today's UCOTD ad copy is sparse, so we don't know much about this car, but we do know that diesel Mercedes from the '80s are cool.

Instead of a radical transformation to EVs, Mercedes’ EQS vehicles have transitioned familiar vehicle styles to electrification. The EQS sedan mirrors the S-Class gas sedan, and so on. The automaker’s latest electric concept takes the same approach, and the near-production CLA EV that recently debuted at the Munich IAA Mobility show will bring electrification to the company’s sleek coupe-sedan body style.

Mercedes-Benz plans to introduce the MMA-based (Mercedes Modular Architecture) Concept CLA Class at the IAA Mobility Show in Germany this weekend. This will preview the brand’s all-new “MB.OS” operating system and the vehicle it's putting on the front line to help draw in a new generation of customers. 

Ford rules the electric van market in the U.S. with its E-Transit, but Mercedes won’t be far behind. Its eSprinter is launching now, and the automaker announced pricing for the electric workhorse, which starts at around $72,000. Higher-output variant will sell for $75,316.

Tesla’s Supercharger network seems to have taken over the world, with several major automakers recently announcing a shift to the standard in the coming years. However, that hasn’t stopped many others from banding together to form their own charging network, including some who signed on with Tesla.

I loved almost everything about the 2022 Mercedes-Benz C300 – except its price.

I guess you get what you pay for.

Mercedes-Benz has officially announced its replacement for the discontinued E and C-Class coupes. The 2024 CLE will serve as the successor to both models by adopting what the manufacturer assumes its customers like about both and trying to bridge the gap between them. 

With the popularity of coupes dwindling, it presumably makes sense for Mercedes to consolidate its two-door products. But it would be unwise to totally shut the door on a vehicle segment that has historically been important to the brand. Some of the most beloved Mercedes models have been coupes. Though the most iconic also have a tendency to include the letters SL in their name. 

Canadian dealers of Mercedes-Benz vehicles are reporting that the automaker is considering revising its strategy for North America.

The dealers attended a market-wide retailers meeting in Vancouver held in May and noted that the automaker was fretting about consumer hesitancy over expensive electric vehicles. Concerns centered around the ailing economy, which has been undermined by higher interest rates and ongoing inflation.

If you’ve travelled abroad and marveled at rigs like the factory-built luxury vans (that aren’t industrial-grade Sprinters) tasked with shuttling and chauffeuring, you may be interested to learn Mercedes-Benz is planning to sell such machines in America. In addition to setting its sights on that relatively untapped market in this neck of the woods, Stuttgart is readying the roll-out of its all-electric van architecture.

Leave to a luxury car that’s priced beyond the reach of most of us to provide the EV future we want.

Enough range to avoid sweating, a smooth ride, an actually well-designed screen-intensive interior, and just enough fun-to-drive factor to keep you amused.

Today's used car of the day is an Oregon-based 2000 Mercedes-Benz SL 500.

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius has told the German media that the brand has no intention of cutting ties with China, saying such a move would be unwise for the whole of Germany industry. 

"The major players in the global economy, Europe, the U.S. and China, are so closely intertwined that decoupling from China makes no sense," he was quoted as saying in Bild am Sonntag.