In the mail the other night, from Mercedes Benz of Portland:
"...According to our records you own a 2014 Smart Fortwo. Based on this information and the value of your vehicle, we would like to exchange your 2014 for a brand new Mercedes Benz with a monthly payment near or below you current payment!.... We absolutely need to reach our goal to purchase approximately 2 millions dollars in pre-owned inventory prior to March 31, 2016. Instead of going only to the auto auction, we would like the opportunity to purchase your Smart Fortwo..."
Well, firstly, we hope your records don't show that we own it. We're leasing it.
Secondly, How can you possibly let us have a full-sized Mercedes for the same price? (Not to mention the cost of insurance, which would go through the roof, and the cost of maintenance, likewise, and the cost of gasoline, whatever that does or will do. Which means the price will actually be nothing like comparable to what the faithful dinner companion & I are paying now.)
Thirdly, we don't like big cars. The Smart Fortwo is particularly nimble and responsive. Had a C-class as a loaner for a couple of days last year - couldn't see past the hood, it wasn't as responsive, was much harder to park, the GPS was massively distracting, it was hard to figure out how to adjust the side-mirrors (2 drivers, 1 car), and the Sirius music system didn't have anything worth listening to. With the electric car we are done with gasoline, with going into debt for maintenance, going into debt to get old cars to pass DEQ...
Fourthly: We absolutely need to reach our goal to purchase approximately 2 millions dollars in pre-owned inventory prior to March 31, 2016...
!!
Another exhausting, arbitrary, mandatory goal.
i) Why $2m?
ii) Why does Mercedes Benz need to push new cars at people who are driving cars only 18 months old?
iii) Are they making too many?
iv) Dear God, the culture of the exhausting, arbitrary, mandatory goal.
(Sometimes it can be reassuring to know that other people's managers are as insane as your own. Sometimes you do begin to wonder if it's just you.)
(But the Koch Brothers are getting ready to kill the electric car. Again.)
So what does this mean? Why does Mercedes Benz suddenly want the 2014 Smart Fortwo back? Won't there be any more nice, nimble, responsive, quiet, easy to drive, easy to park, amiable, non-gasoline, planet-saving electric cars?
There's no end to the exhaustion of the planet or ourselves.
Afterthoughts:
If $2m, quickly, is your goal, then it does make sense to search for currently-owned stock as well as stock from the auction-block. The pool of available vehicles will increase, & these vehicles will generally be in better condition than poor things from the knacker's yard.
So, yes, in that sense, contacting present owners is a logical thing to do.
But the overproduction this hints at is one blind disaster, and taking electric cars off the road to replace them, if that's the plan, with gasoline-powered cars, is another. The ice-sheets are melting. The polar bears are drowning. The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching.
"...According to our records you own a 2014 Smart Fortwo. Based on this information and the value of your vehicle, we would like to exchange your 2014 for a brand new Mercedes Benz with a monthly payment near or below you current payment!.... We absolutely need to reach our goal to purchase approximately 2 millions dollars in pre-owned inventory prior to March 31, 2016. Instead of going only to the auto auction, we would like the opportunity to purchase your Smart Fortwo..."
Well, firstly, we hope your records don't show that we own it. We're leasing it.
Secondly, How can you possibly let us have a full-sized Mercedes for the same price? (Not to mention the cost of insurance, which would go through the roof, and the cost of maintenance, likewise, and the cost of gasoline, whatever that does or will do. Which means the price will actually be nothing like comparable to what the faithful dinner companion & I are paying now.)
Thirdly, we don't like big cars. The Smart Fortwo is particularly nimble and responsive. Had a C-class as a loaner for a couple of days last year - couldn't see past the hood, it wasn't as responsive, was much harder to park, the GPS was massively distracting, it was hard to figure out how to adjust the side-mirrors (2 drivers, 1 car), and the Sirius music system didn't have anything worth listening to. With the electric car we are done with gasoline, with going into debt for maintenance, going into debt to get old cars to pass DEQ...
Fourthly: We absolutely need to reach our goal to purchase approximately 2 millions dollars in pre-owned inventory prior to March 31, 2016...
!!
Another exhausting, arbitrary, mandatory goal.
i) Why $2m?
ii) Why does Mercedes Benz need to push new cars at people who are driving cars only 18 months old?
iii) Are they making too many?
iv) Dear God, the culture of the exhausting, arbitrary, mandatory goal.
(Sometimes it can be reassuring to know that other people's managers are as insane as your own. Sometimes you do begin to wonder if it's just you.)
(But the Koch Brothers are getting ready to kill the electric car. Again.)
So what does this mean? Why does Mercedes Benz suddenly want the 2014 Smart Fortwo back? Won't there be any more nice, nimble, responsive, quiet, easy to drive, easy to park, amiable, non-gasoline, planet-saving electric cars?
There's no end to the exhaustion of the planet or ourselves.
Afterthoughts:
If $2m, quickly, is your goal, then it does make sense to search for currently-owned stock as well as stock from the auction-block. The pool of available vehicles will increase, & these vehicles will generally be in better condition than poor things from the knacker's yard.
So, yes, in that sense, contacting present owners is a logical thing to do.
But the overproduction this hints at is one blind disaster, and taking electric cars off the road to replace them, if that's the plan, with gasoline-powered cars, is another. The ice-sheets are melting. The polar bears are drowning. The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching.
