>It’s not rare for automakers to buy vehicles from competitors in order to reverse-engineer or benchmark them as part of their R&D effort, but Mercedes-Benz reportedly used a particularly strange and arguably shady way to do it for the Tesla Model X.
>It makes sense for the German automaker to be interested in the Model X at this point since it’s the only all-electric SUV on the market and they are about to launch their own all-electric SUV: the Mercedes EQC.
>But instead of simply buying one from Tesla or a used one, the automaker reportedly rented one from a Bavarian couple through the car rental company Sixt.
>According to the German magazine Spiegel (German and paywall), the couple was going on vacation for a few weeks and decided to loan their Model X to the company, which in turn rented it to Daimler, Mercedes-Benz’s parent company.
>Unknown to the actual owner of the car, Mercedes then proceeded to thoroughly test the electric vehicle and then dismantle it before rebuilding it again and giving it back to Sixt.
>According to the company, Mercedes drove the Model X at their test track in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart in Germany and put it through heat and vibration tests. They also reportedly drove it all the way to Barcelona in Spain.
>Sixt says that this kind of use goes against their rental agreement and while they reportedly compensated the owners, they say that Daimler should pay for the damage incurred on the vehicle, which they estimate to be “in the five digits.”
I don't understand why they are so upset about this as their tesla is now much better put together than it was when it was new?
Michael Cruz
...
Lucas Howard
>put together by a german car company
not so fast!
Jonathan Brooks
...
Matthew Harris
Underrated thread, bamp
Lincoln Collins
Based germans
Nolan Green
lmfao
Mercedes are the absolute mad men.
They done similar shit in the past for the CLK GTR and completely owned McLaren:
“To test the CLK GTR before the first chassis were built, Mercedes-AMG actually took an unusual measure. Through secrecy, Mercedes-AMG was able to purchase a disused McLaren F1 GTR, the defending BPR GT series champion, from Larbre Compétition. This purchase first allowed Mercedes-AMG to see the kind of lap times that their competitors could run, to serve as a measurement of the CLK GTR's abilities. However, more importantly, Mercedes-AMG set about modifying this F1 GTR by attaching bodywork that was meant to go on the CLK GTR. Mercedes-Benz also used their own LS600 6.0 liter engine in place of the BMW V12 unit.[7] This allowed Mercedes-AMG to be able to perfect the aerodynamics of the car before it had even been built.”
[...]
However, by the next round at Silverstone, the CLK GTR began to show its pace, finishing less than a second behind the winning McLaren. By the fourth round, returning to Germany for the Nürburgring, a third CLK GTR was added to the team. In this race, Mercedes-Benz successfully outperformed the fleet of McLarens, taking first and second places. The team would finish out the season with five more wins, at A1-Ring, Suzuka, Donington, Sebring, and Laguna Seca, allowing them to secure the team championship as well as the drivers championship for Bernd Schneider.”
Now Tesla gets BTFO by Porsche and MB.
Beautiful germans.
Brody Harris
Top fucking kek. EV cucks btfo again.
Luke Long
underrated
Kevin Anderson
savage
Adrian Green
how can teslacucks ever recover?
Nathaniel Cooper
I remember Honda did the same thing with a Porsche 911 GT3 for he Honda NSX
Cameron Morgan
>damages what exactly was damaged?
Jace Wright
Taking things apart causes damage, especially with how cheaply cars are made.
Gavin Powell
knowing american cars its mostly plastic and a lot of it is glued together so it cant be taken apart.
Julian Parker
Tell me if I'm wrong, but could fucking about with certain thins void warranties?
Joshua Cox
If I change my own oil it voids my warranty.
Taking the whole car apart? If I were the owners I'd being suing the ever loving fuck out of both the rental company and Daimler.
Chase Sanchez
Ayy
Grayson Lee
...
Zachary Martinez
>thinks for a moment I wonder if Tesla has ever done this with any of the big luxury brands
>second thought No, Elon is too arrogant to believe he can learn anything from the established companies. They would be building electric cars if they were as smart as him after all. Besides his engineers are probably too retarded to understand what they are looking at
Chase Roberts
bumping epic bread
Nolan Jackson
Based Mercedes pushed weebs shit in with import laws now cucked some fag into having a better tesla.
Benjamin Harris
Get
Tyler Johnson
>test car >gets 5 digits worth of damage so teslas are shit? good to know
