Mercedes and Volkswagen DITCH their EV ambitions!

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Well, the initial slow drip of auto manufacturers walking away from their foolish EV promises has now turned into a flood.

Almost every week, you read of yet another automaker desperately backtracking on their electrification plans as the market dries up and sales plummet.

The latest car makers to cave and back away from these mad electrification plans are Volkswagen and Mercedes, who have hedged their bets with more hybrids, allowing production of internal combustion engines to continue.

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This isn’t rocket science. There’s a simple principle which these manufacturers should follow, if they want to be successful: build the cars people need, and to hell with what the government says.

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Bloomberg reports on how Volkswagen’s EV fantasy has just collided with reality.

Volkswagen walks back EV and bus strategy that rankled rivals.

CEO Oliver Blumer is turning to hybrids and striking partnerships, as EV sales slow.

Volkswagen AG’s all-in on electric vehicle plan is no more.

The namesake VW brand, which pitched its ID family of electric cars as central to its future, admitted last week it will need more plug-in hybrids as EV sales decelerate.

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This marks just the latest adjustment VW has made to its electrification strategy after the company botched several model releases and fell behind in China, where local brands now dominate.

The manufacturer has also shelved efforts to seek outside investors for its battery unit and scrapped plans for a 2 billion Euro ($2.2 billion) EV factory in Germany.

In fact, the automaker is selling so many cars still running on combustion engines, that it’s on track to overshoot its emissions allowance next year, leading Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blumer to ask European regulators for leniency.

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It’s a sharp turnabout from only 3 years ago when VW’s aggressive lobbying for EVs in the European Union opened up rifts between the company and some of its peers in the region.

Yep, give the punters what they want; works every time.

But this is a far cry from VW’s posturing on electrification barely years ago.

“Electric mobility has won the race,” D said when presenting VW’s battery strategy in 2021.

Many in the industry questioned our EV approach; today they are following suit while we are reaping the fruit. Well, that fruit must be tasting pretty sour by now, if it isn’t completely rotten.

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And Mercedes has dumped an entire EV platform after a woeful sale of its larger EV models.

As Top Gear reports, Mercedes has reportedly cancelled an entire EV platform, and apparently, slow EV sales are to blame.

Farewell, MBEA; we hardly knew you.

Mercedes is putting the kibosh on the development of its MBEA large electric vehicle platform, having apparently been put off by the EQE and EQS’s slower than expected sales.

OD Deia first reported by Handelsblut, the move will supposedly save $billions in development costs as Mercedes rethinks its future luxury car strategy.

This is a big shift, because the MBEA platform, which was due to be ready for 2028, was meant to bring several of the technologies previewed on the ultra-long range Vision EQXX to the table.

Don’t expect 750 mi from a single charge anytime soon then.

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And Bloomberg again dives into why the EQS has been such a disaster for Mercedes.

Why Mercedes’ $100,000 electric jelly bean flopped:

The German automaker’s limousine customers care as much about comfort and status as saving the planet. Now they should worry about resale values too.

When Mercedes-Benz Group unveiled a luxury electric sedan called the EQS in 2021, managers boasted about the radical aerodynamic design, billing it as the German automaker’s most significant launch in decades.

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Film director James Cameron and singer Alicia Keys were on hand to add their own superlatives for a vehicle that cost in excess of $100,000. “This concept car was inspired by the values of Avatar’s indigenous people, the Na’vi, who believe that we must not only limit what we take from nature, but find ways to replenish what we use.” The all-new EQS is not just an impressive vehicle; it’s a commitment to a more balanced world.

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Three years later, the electric version of the flagship S-Class risks becoming one of the biggest flops in Mercedes’ storied history, and its shortcomings have contributed to the company’s decision to ditch a goal of selling only electric vehicles by 2030.

Sales of the luxury electric sedan declined 40% to just 14,100 units last year, according to Mercedes’ annual report.

Price cuts in China and heavily discounted U.S. lease deals failed to revive demand while undermining the company’s strategy of prioritizing high values over sales volumes. Combustion engine S-Class deliveries were more than six times higher.

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And the final piece of good news from Mercedes is that the ignominious slide of its once legendary AMG brand into abject mediocrity has been halted, at least for the time being.

AMG started going downhill when Mercedes started applying the badge to ghastly little hatchbacks like the A45, and worst of all, applied the legendary C63 badge, which used to stand for a glorious 6.2 L naturally aspirated V8, on a pissy little 4-cylinder car with an electric motor—sacrilege.

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But the market has spoken, and for the upcoming CLLE 63

AMG is going back to the next best thing to the 6.2 L, the venerable 4 L twin turbo, which is about the best we can hope for in this mad net-zero climate.

Mercedes AMG CL63 switches four-pot PH for 585 BHP V8.

AMG lines up twin-turbo V8 power for upcoming super coupe amid slow sales for four-cylinder hybrid C63 H. Wonder why that would be?

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The upcoming Mercedes AMG CL63 will receive a twin-turbocharged 4 L V8 petrol engine, developing up to 585 BHP, senior officials at the division’s Mercedes-Benz parent company have confirmed.

The decision reverses an earlier plan to give the hot new coupe and cabriolet the same 670 BHP plug-in hybrid drivetrain as the latest C63 and GLC63, due to slow sales of the saloon, estate, and SUV, despite its class-leading performance.

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Traditional AMG buyers haven’t taken to the E Performance PHV drivetrain, which combines a turbocharged 2 L 4-cylinder petrol engine and a rear axle mounted electric motor—ghastly.

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I wouldn’t drive one if they paid me. I’d go and find a nice C63 Edition 507 coupe from 2012 or 2013, one of the most fun cars you could ever imagine when the 63 on the badge actually meant something.

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Volkswagen and Mercedes aren’t the first automakers to get cold feet over their earlier ludicrous electrification promises in the face of clear market apathy, but we can be 100% sure of one thing: they won’t be the last.