“Mercedes-Benz Food Stamp” Writer Shows Complexity of Poverty

Writer Darlena Cunha, and her family

We are writing because two weeks ago an article appeared in The Washington Post about a woman’s struggle with becoming suddenly impoverished. This article was quickly shared throughout the Internet because there was something about the woman’s story that seemed unusual to people. We first noticed it when we saw dozens of retweets with the fetching headline, “This is what happened when I drove my Mercedes to pick up food stamps.” From a journalistic perspective, that’s a great hook.

We think that the article was popular because people could easily imagine it happening to them. Which is interesting because lots of people fantasize about being able to buy a Mercedes-Benz. This story took that visualization one step further by considering what happens if you “make it” but then lose it. It asked, “What would you do if your wages went down, your spouse lost his or her job, you gave birth to twins, the market gutted the value of your home, and the Mercedes-Benz was paid off?”

Plenty of people had opinions on whether the story’s author handled her life correctly. Right or wrong, thousands of people felt comfortable judging the story’s author. A lot of those opinions centered on the Mercedes-Benz and the house because they are signs of economic success. Many people thought the woman and her husband should sell both because they’re “luxury” items, which can be downgraded.

As the woman explained, weeks after purchasing the house, the market fell out, and to sell the house would be to assume an enormous amount of debt. The Mercedes-Benz was an older model which had also depreciated in value and had been paid off long, long ago. But because they are strong economic symbols, people rushed quickly to judgment, irrespective of facts below the symbolic level. People in the story, and those reading it, second-guessed the woman and her husband every step of the way because her appearance (nice house, nice car) didn’t match her reality (not being able to buy food, not being to find a job).

We would submit that poverty can be an incredibly nuanced concept. We usually hear “poverty” and jump straight to “lower class,” assuming that you’re already there, or that you should immediately start to look like what we imagine lower class looks like. This isn’t a very compassionate view, and in the wake of the economic turbulence of the Great Recession, we think it would behoove us all to be more flexible in our viewpoints and less hasty in our judgments. In short: Learn. Observe. Watch. Ask questions. Be helpful. Swallow advice. Everyone’s experience is different, even and especially those who look unusual, like a woman in a Mercedes-Benz picking up food stamps.

Billions of people walk this planet with their own unique challenges and circumstances. In many cases a lot of good can be done simply by asking to hear their stories. The whole point of this article’s widespread interest is that the woman’s story did not match what people imagined it would be. Doling out advice and judgment based on her appearance is the exact opposite of what people should be taking away, and yet, that’s what we’ve been witnessing. The next time you hear or read a story that excites you, pause—take a moment. Take a day or even two. We are willing to bet that that extra time will create empathy, which is one thing this woman and her family could have used more of.

2015 C-Class Gets Plug-In Hybrid Electric Version This Fall

The age-old balance between gasoline and electric cars is inching toward resolution. A new plug-in hybrid electric version of the C-Class is due to arrive in the U.S. this fall. Initial estimates say that the PHEV will have a 109 MPG equivalency. We say equivalency because PHEVs run on a mixture of gasoline and electricity, so we can’t evaluate things strictly by the gallon.

PHEVs represent the best of the gasoline and electric worlds. They have a gasoline engine and an electric motor. They can run just on electricity or just on gasoline. They use things like gravity, inertia, and momentum to power the car instead of insisting that fossil fuels burn at all times. They have the range of a gasoline vehicle with much better CO2 and pollutant levels. And when you need to floor it, you get the roar of a classic internal combustion engine.

In many cases, PHEVs can offer more power than equivalent vehicles through the instant response of electric acceleration and a higher combined horsepower. The 2015 PHEV C-Class will have a turbocharger for its 4-cylinder engine, which means it will get a boost in the higher RPMs. Assuming the battery is charged, you should receive a similar boost in the lower RPMs thanks to the electric motor.

We see this as a positive movement toward saving money at the pump, lowering our overall gasoline consumption, and expelling fewer pollutants into the world. Everyday more and more people are getting their driver’s licenses and owning their own cars. PHEVs are a great way to make sure that we keep the planet safe for ourselves and generations to come. The S-Class will soon get a PHEV version, as well.

We’ll be sure to let you know when we get our first models in here at Raleigh, and we would love for you to see for yourself what a PHEV is like.

MB Embraces Electric Vehicles, Millenials and Self-Driving Cars

Autonomous cars and Mercedes-Benz are a lot more closely related than you think. Features like Park Assist, Intelligent Drive, Blind Spot Assist and Lane Keeping Assist feel like incremental novelties when evaluated one-by-one. But consider them together and you actually have a vehicle that’s almost driving on its own entirely. The result is something that Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Steve Cannon sees as relatively simple:

“We already have an intelligent S-Class that can steer itself around curves. It monitors the blind spot, and it nudges you back into traffic. So all the building blocks are there, it’s just a question of time, legislation, and cost.”

Cost is closely related to time: reduce one and you’ll likely reduce the other. Cannon believes that 2025 is the magic number for commercial viability, although his definition of that last term (Is an S-Class commercially viable? E-Class? C?) is key. Still, it is impressive to hear about something that used to be the provenance of science fiction now spoken of casually by an automotive executive.

One reason for that optimism might be the successful launch of the B-Class this week in California. Electric vehicles have been the whipping boy of pundits, critics and analysts for years. Americans were said to be too in love with gasoline to consider the whisper-quiet rolling of an EV’s tires.

Then a little vehicle known as the Chevy Volt came along. Then the Nissan Leaf. Now with two EV’s on the market (the smart fortwo electric drive also debuted in the U.S. this year), Mercedes-Benz is bringing their trademark class to the evolving power lines of the industry.

Another mountain that Mercedes-Benz has traversed has less to do with technology as it does demographics. Millennials, the youngish generation to emerge from the beaches of the Great Recession with 1 trillion dollars in student loans and grim employment prospects, are famously just not that into buying new cars. Cannon’s solution? Price.

“First and foremost you need a vehicle package at a price point that’s relevant. If you want to build bridges to this generation, you have to build a product they can afford.”

That bridge, the CLA-Class, costs a little under $30,000, which is more attainable than many people would expect. It also reflects the expanding bounds of incomes in America: some people are making more, but a lot of people are making less.

These three ways that Mercedes-Benz is stretching itself—autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, and Millenial vehicles—exhibit clear attention to this market. We don’t know exactly if or how they will converge, but we are reminded of a quote by another CEO, Steve Jobs:

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Nintendo Opens Virtual World to Mercedes-Benz Vehicles

For decades we have watched our children grow up with video games, and wondered what the draw was. Video games have progressed from machines in pizza parlors fed with quarters to $500 boxes that sit in living rooms and offer Internet, shopping and DVD players, besides the actual games.

When Mercedes-Benz announced this week that it was strengthening a partnership with Japanese company Nintendo, another page was added to this chapter of video games and our lives. Nintendo is the maker of mega-franchises like Super Mario Bros., whose featured portly plumber is one of the most-recognized icons on Earth. This past week, Mercedes-Benz agreed to let a virtual version of its GLA to be driven around by Mario and his friends in a video game.

What does this mean? Nintendo is not the juggernaut it once was. Microsoft and Sony have become powerful competitors who claimed huge chunks of the $20.5 billion in video game-related sales in 2013. Nintendo has tremendous brand cache, but its games are frequently noted for appealing more to children and young adults than the consumer base cultivated by its rivals.

We believe, however, that Mercedes-Benz is on the right track. Nintendo is famous for controlling all aspects of its business, from licensing to distribution, so to allow Mercedes-Benz vehicles into its virtual world is a highly-unusual opportunity. Many of the programmers and coders in Silicon Valley today grew up with a Nintendo controller in their hand, and given the increasingly high valuations of technology companies in the U.S., it would behoove Mercedes-Benz to increase awareness of its brand in the children who might make the Facebooks and Twitters of the future.

Technology is increasingly important to Mercedes-Benz as well: driverless driving, head-up displays, automatic parking—the most progressive integrations of technology in driving all lend themselves to virtual simulation, which is the bedrock of video games. Partnering more with Nintendo could give Mercedes-Benz a 1-UP (also known as an extra life).

The Incredible Amount of Detail in Mercedes-Benz Designo Interiors

The interior of a Mercedes-Benz receives numerous hours of thought and preparation. To give you a sense of what’s included in your vehicle’s interior, the automaker has prepared a guide on the holistic experience which is called designo.

A collection of materials, paints and finishes available for select models, designo takes the best elements to create a total perspective not unlike a landscape painting. For paintwork you can choose between a unique set of deep high-gloss colors or ultramodern low-sheen matte finishes. For upholstery you can elect for incomparable forgiving Nappa leather in solid or two-tone themes; an option for dinamica suede appearance ceilings are also available. For cabin trim, a host of exotic woods, hand stitched leather matching, and even stone granite can be incorporated.

Also important is how the above materials are utilized. No matter what choice of paintwork you designate, designo processes are multi-layered and contain a nano-technology of clearcoat and ceramic particles to ensure durability and protection. The Nappa leather referenced above is procured and outfitted from south Germany, and a special dye is designed to bring the leather’s natural grain to the surface; if any imperfections exist, they can be identified and the offending leather removed. Exotic woods should never come at the cost of damaging the environment, so Mercedes-Benz harvests in accordance with sustainable foresting practices.

Finally, the craftspeople that wed these elements to form your Mercedes-Benz designointerior should be mentioned. Paint, after all, is only as good as the painter who uses it, so Mercedes-Benz designo painters are selected for their level of experience. Upholstery materials are matched for a car before ever being cut or sewn to ensure that uniformity is present from the beginning. Wood finishes and lacquers are all applied by hand because they’re meant to be appreciated by hand.

The standards for designo workmanship are high for many reasons, some of which we hope are now better illustrated.

What Does the Car of the Future Look Like? Google Googles It

Google released some footage this week of people in the company’s self-driving car in a cutesy video reminiscent of how a toy company would show newborns engaging with mobiles, colorful blocks and stuffed animals. The reason this video merits our attention is that Google is not an automotive company. Many companies that make cars are experimenting with self-driving cars, and we think that they can find success given that they know a lot about cars in general.

Google, on the other hand, has the blessing and curse of not knowing how to make a car. The parallel between this video and a toy company is not dissimilar in the sense that many people would approach this type of vehicle with more curiosity and trepidation than they’ve encountered anything since their very first years. It’s also a parallel that makes Google the newborn in a way. Though they possibly employ and/or consult with former automotive engineers, there is a sense of naiveté in the company’s efforts to not only make a car, but make one that has a wholly different experience for consumers.

Photo: Google

The car has no steering wheel. There are no pedals. It has two seats, safety belts, and a start/stop button. Sensors and software speed or slow the car as it whisks you to your destination, just like a taxi. It’s just a prototype, and thus probably runs only a preprogrammed route, but the principle seems to be that you would input your destination in Google Maps, press start and let the car do the rest. One lady in the video commented about how it slowed down before the turn and accelerated out of it, just like she was taught in high school and how she’s always telling her husband to do. It’s like an automated taxi that completely does all of the work for you and is faster at seeing trouble and avoiding it than a human could ever possibly be.

This is made possible by software, which Google is very good at making. Google has been working with cars for years thanks to their Street View and Google Maps products. Combining that knowledge with the mechanics of collision avoidance and user input is the challenge at hand. By the way, it’s worth noting that the amount of programming code in the average car is massive. Like, a lot. An infographic prepared by independent sources shows that the tens of millions of lines of code in regular cars is more than the operating system that your computer or phone is running right now to let you read this article. A modern car needs more programming code to run than Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s OS X, Facebook, the Hadron Collider, an F-35 Fighter Jet, Google Chrome or the Mars Curiosity Rover. Think about that: cars, which have been around for more than a century, need more computer code to run than computers.

Photo: LA Times

Clearly the automotive industry is ripe for change in the software department. With programming code, more does not necessarily equal better. It could be that Google can do code for cars better than most automotive makers, and would make their car quite viable. That in turn could spur automakers to streamline their code, which would make everyone’s products better. Google’s self-driving car is thus a good thing, we think, because it raises competition and introduces innovation. It’s goofy looking, but we don’t mind. The new kid is often made fun of for looking funny. We love how the video points out the advances in mobility a self-driving car could enable: blind people, the elderly, those without a license, those who don’t know how to drive, etc. People now can use their driving time to do other things, which presents a tremendous potential boost in leisure and productivity.

Google will be testing about 100 of their self-driving cars in real-life conditions for the next 12 months or so. They will use real people as testers and no doubt learn a lot. We wish them well in their enterprise, and look forward to the great things that will emerge from their work.

C-Class Estate Wagon Announced for 2015 and Everyone Went Crazy

For some reason, auto journalists are prone to favor station wagons. Not all of us, of course. But enough that when Mercedes-Benz announced this week that it’s releasing an Estate version of the C-Class, it’s been the leading item on Google News for Mercedes-Benz, and every major publication wrote about it, mainly to say that they already want it even though they haven’t driven it.

The 2015 C-Class Estate will not be coming to America, but that doesn’t mean Mercedes-Benz doubts that there will be demand for it. The station wagon will provide three four-cylinder gasoline engines, four diesel engines (two of which will be hybrids), and larger V6 engines later on, not to mention a probable plug-in hybrid version. Right there we have about 10 possible engine configurations for what many in the U.S. believe to be a dying breed of vehicle. It suggests to us that there is plenty of appreciation left for station wagons in the world, only that America is a bit behind the times.

The video announcing the C-Class Estate shows the car quite well. As an extension of the C-Class, its lengthy proportions do justice to the C’s bottom-heavy body, and put that bottom to good use by letting the voluminous trunk expand. We couldn’t help but find Mercedes-Benz’s video of the Estate’s cargo space a bit unusual, however.

After talking a fair bit about how the Estate lets emotion meet “functionality” and “class,” the video shows a man loading his rather large model helicopter, blades and all, into the rear trunk. A helicopter? Is that really a hobby? Perhaps our lack of model helicopter flying is why the Estate is going to literally anywhere on earth except the U.S. The man uses the open trunk as a bench as he happily steers his helo through the desert air, and the camera cuts to a woman in a tailored business jacket driving her Estate because presumably she has something better to do than pretend to fly.

In any case, we love station wagons and appreciate the E-Class Wagon that we do have in the U.S. Perhaps you would like to try it, as well.