> Mercedes is a real car company with real engineers and a gold-standard reputation to maintain.
Not only that, but they have a quality reputation to uphold with their domestic (German) and regional (European) market.
Your average discerning German car buyer (i.e. the sort who has a Porsche 911, or a higher-end Audi/BMW/Merc) in their garage will swiftly tell you about numerous problems with the Tesla before they've even sat in it.
Panel gaps, for example. They mean a lot to your average discerning German, and your average Tesla has them by the bucket load.
In fact, the German in-joke is that the reason Tesla built a factory in Germany is so that the Germans could (try to) teach them how to fix the panel gaps. :-)
Not only that, but they have a quality reputation to uphold with their domestic (German) and regional (European) market.
Your average discerning German car buyer (i.e. the sort who has a Porsche 911, or a higher-end Audi/BMW/Merc) in their garage will swiftly tell you about numerous problems with the Tesla before they've even sat in it.
Panel gaps, for example. They mean a lot to your average discerning German, and your average Tesla has them by the bucket load.
In fact, the German in-joke is that the reason Tesla built a factory in Germany is so that the Germans could (try to) teach them how to fix the panel gaps. :-)