For the vast majority of media this news has gone unnoticed: Mercedes will not homologate its cars to be taxis in Germany… Ola Källenius, president of Mercedes, has announced this measure. Do you think it is a trivial news? Not to us. On the contrary, it seems to us to be a very relevant news and it shows the decline of Mercedes in particular, and of the European automobile industry in general… Do you think it is exaggerated? We will explain it to you… I will probably be controversial… you know what I always say: “I do not pursue controversy, but I do not shy away from it” ... #cars #taxi #mercedesbenz Become a member of this channel to enjoy advantages: / hermetic garage And it is that if for many years you had asked me what is the best brand in the world, for many years, decades, I would have said Mercedes… and that is even though I have not had one! But I consider it a pending subject, to have a “real” Mercedes. That is, one of the old ones. I suggest you watch the video titled “When Mercedes were real Mercedes”. But Mercedes has been, I was going to say for a long time, but I should say, since always, the paradigm of the reliable, quality and premium car. Let us not forget what we could say is its motto: “Das Beste oder nichts” … for those who do not know German: “The best or nothing”. It is a brand that has been the favourite of taxi drivers, in Germany… but also in much of Africa and the Middle East… That builds highly prestigious and highly appreciated TTs, such as the Mercedes G, a car that has been a reference in its segment for a quarter of a century. Do you think taxi drivers know about cars or not? Yes, they know about cars. A lot. Many, if not all, taxi drivers, people who decide to earn a living by driving, are very fond of the world of motors and have a great deal of experience regarding the reliability and maintenance costs of cars, for themselves and for their colleagues. The second question would be: What qualities do you think a taxi driver looks for when buying a car? Reliability and low maintenance costs. We all know one thing: Reliability equals quality. No other way of making unbreakable cars has been invented other than by making them well. And, let's face it, before Toyota reached its current level and before Lexus was born, the absolute world reference in terms of quality and reliability was Mercedes. And now the president Ola Källenius, the man with 6 million euros, says that they are no longer homologating their cars as taxis because they want to be more "Premium". And I ask you, even if you earn a little less: Do you believe it? Because no less than Toyota, no less than Tesla and no less than... Lexus! are still brands chosen by taxi drivers... and for me Toyota is not Premium, although it is a brand of great prestige, but... Tesla and Lexus are not Premium? Are they going to stop being so because you get into a taxi of that brand? For me the explanation is completely different: They are going away because they are incapable of competing. Mercedes, and this is an opinion, has long since lost competitiveness in the relationship between quality and price. Because yes, they were expensive, but they were very good. And they are still expensive, but are they still good? Mercedes, a brand that has distinguished itself by its excellent engines, uses Renault engines in many of its models. And are they bad engines? Well, of course not, not at all. But they are Renault, not Mercedes… in my humble opinion, there are also “Premium” engines. There are two conclusions. To me, it seems a real shame. Mercedes is no longer that brand capable of being the most Premium on the market or one of the most, but capable of making work vehicles with that “Premium” label, something that has made it a unique brand. Because other car brands make trucks, like Renault or Volvo among others, or are very common as vans and taxis, like VW and Toyota… but they do not have the “Premium” concept that Mercedes had and despite everything still has… they wish! The second conclusion is more serious. Recently, in the video titled “The imposition of the electric car, what a mess you have made!” I was giving quite a hard time to another of the brands that have always been one of my favourites: VW. Although it has nothing to do with this, I received information that despite a significant price drop for the VW ID4… only 40 have been sold… And the conclusion is that the European brands, pushed by the prices of Chinese cars and the quality of Japanese cars, are beginning a decline from which, if they don’t get their act together, they will not get out. Just look at what happened in the USA… Which, by the way, we told about in another video titled “The decline of US cars”… and in Garaje Hermético… we tell you everything! But in this video, more than in others, I am interested in your opinion… I will read you in the comments.