Mercedes green lights new EQA EV for Australia
After all of Volkswagen’s recent poorly thought out protestation about its inability to sell EVs in Australia, the only just now says it’s rather looking forward to the new EQA coming here later this year. Go figure…
Warning: This report contains nuts.
Apparently the Germans don’t really talk to each other, or share hymn books, all that often.
Volkswagen is falling all over itself to denounce Australia as a third-world regulatory wasteland (I’m paraphrasing), while Mercedes-Benz Australia Pacific sees a real opportunity here for its new compact EV SUV, the EQA.
Dealerships will receive their allotment of the all-electric EQA later this year. (You can order one from next month if you want.)
As you may know, I’m not a huge fan of Mercedes here in Australia. They do try, and occasionally they do the right thing. Better than Volkswagen, although it’s not hard.
The point is, it’s a free country. So if the EQA moves you, in the power point, if it flips the switch on for you, let the current take you - resistance is futile in that state. Generally.
And who knows, EQA may not be a complete dog. It offers a range of up to 480km, and comes with a Chargefox rapid charger subscription, for longer trips. I’ve used Chargefox - they’re awesome.
EQA has a 66.5 kWh battery and according to official Suppository data, the electron consumption is 16.2 kWh per 100km - for the mathematics and physics cognoscenti.
The price is interesting: $76,800 inclusive of GST and LCT. There’s also a fairly wanky Edition 1 version with a lube dispenser and other self-righteous and otherwise masturbatory features, should you want to be the most annoying guest at the world’s most boring dinner party, for an additional $7300.
What I find fascinating about this is actually two things: No word from them on how damn difficult it was to justify selling it here, to the factory in Germany. Which is completely at odds with Volkswagen’s recent disclosure, oxygenated far too extensively in CarAdvice - link to that report here >>
Equally fascinating is the price. Its roughly the same as a Hyundai Kona Highlander Electric - a vehicle I drove for approximately one global pandemic and 10,000 kilometres. And roughly equivalent on size, range, and other key operational characteristics.
Of course, the EQA does display the coveted Mercedes badges front and rear - which is so damn compelling to many people. For mid-$70K - if that’s in fact how it plays out - which one would the average person buy? Even for $10k more...
So I’d suggest the advent of EQA is also going to be something of a fox in the henhouse, for Hyundai, with vehicles such as the Kona Electric - and also a cause for concern over their new Ioniq sub-brand. And also for Kia with its EV6 seemingly under consideration for Australia, and the Niro which was recently announced.
Volkswagen’s not worried, however - it already has its excuses for failure to sell its EVs here perfectly well sorted. According to those arsehole, it’s all our fault.
HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR EV BUYERS
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Cracking nuts
Over to you, now. Two of you, anyway. Firstly, an apparent legal expert in the comments: A dude named Ray Gale.
Warning, this section may contain traces of nut.
Ray, is you’re trying to convince people he’s gone to the trouble of reading and interpreting hundreds of convoluted pages of highly technical legislation, which I highly doubt.
But Ray did go on:
As for who’s to blame, and the thorny issue of ‘cheating, conspiring, illegal and criminal acts’, it is a matter of fact, and not at all up for debate, that Volkswagen plead guilty about four years ago now, before a US court.
It strikes me that Volkswagen has a team of lawyers stretching over the horizon, and a virtually limitless budget for self-defence. And if they plead guilty, it seems obvious to me, on the balance of probabilities, that they did not have a (legal or moral) leg to stand on. But perhaps, Ray understands the legislation better than an army of actual corporate defence lawyers.
Unlikely.
To Ray’s argument, Volkswagen admitted its guilt on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. If you plead guilty to a crime - in this case, two crimes - you get to be a proper criminal. The court finds you guilty. You are one. It’s no longer a question at this point. If the charges include conspiracy - then you are guilty of conspiracy. You are a criminal conspirator.
It might surprise you to learn that I have to be very careful what I say in these reports - because although under Australian law, companies cannot sue for defamation, individuals in them can, and companies can sue for injurious falsehood, so one would want not to be too ambiguous with the truth.
But I am on entirely safe ground with this one. Volkswagen is a criminal organisation. On the basis of being guilty of a felony in the United States.
Additionally, a senior executive at Volkswagen - Oliver Schmidt - was jailed for seven years in the US for his role in Dieselgate. He was arrested on his way home from a holiday in Florida in January 2017, and he was extradited back to Germany mid-2020, allegedly to serve the remainder of his sentence there, and the Germans released him in January. So he only played in the Big House until about half time.
An indictment in the US against former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn was unsealed on May 3rd 2018 - charges included conspiracy and wire fraud. There are four counts. I think some other executives were charged as well.
But unfortunately Germany doesn’t extradite its citizens to the USA. (I wonder why?) So it seemed at the time he’d dodged rather a big bullet, but then in April of 2019 - just shy of a year after being indicted in the US - German prosecutors charged him with four counts of fraud over Volkswagen’s systematic emissions misdeeds.
If he’s found guilty, and that’s still sub-judice as I understand it, he could be in the slammer for up to a decade. He’s 73 - so that would essentially be a life sentence.
IN CASE OF IGNORANCE: BREAK FOR VOLKSWAGEN BACKSTORY
Volkswagen versus Australia on emissions and EVs >>
ACCC signs deal with devil (by 'devil' I mean 'VW') ) >>
How Volkswagen betrayed the world >>
Ex-Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn to stand trial over diesel scandal >>
And now this, from Giles Pargiter:
Okay, in fact, I don't disagree with the notion we are becoming a third-world dumping ground in Australia. Just look at the thousands of old trucks still allowed to belch uncaptured, carcinogenic particles into the air around our schools, hospitals and parks.
In my considered view, and with all due respect, my long-held public position on this is that the useless Federal Government should tell the fuel wholesalers, the refiners and the retailers to bugger right off, forthwith, and urgently implement world-class fuel quality standards - especially on sulphur levels in petrol.
I've said this publicly many times. This would allow the earlier adoption of Euro 6 emissions regulations - but not so that Volkswagen arseholes can sell a few EVs, but to improve urban air quality and thus benefit public health.
I'm not deflecting this point at all - in fact I have confronted it head-on in many reports, as well as on radio and TV - not that they matter any more. My issue here is Volkswagen chiming in on emissions regulations to suit their own grubby, self-serving agenda and engineer a seemingly blameless excuse for selling very few EVs here.
The attitude, 'We simply can't do it in this regulatory environment.' is reprehensible, indefensible rubbish and buck-passing. We absolutely can do it in this so-called regulatory environment - because the people with the power to change it are the ones setting that regulatory standard.
That’s literally their job, politicians, that is.
Unfortunately, Giles had more to say:
The funny thing about making my reports on the other end of the screen-lens arrangement is all the people who line up to tell me how to do life better - more constructively - whatever. So much conflicting advice.
The best way I deal with it is to not actually care. As I always say, Giles, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, give up.’
It seems to me that waging war on bullshit is an entirely constructive and worthwhile undertaking that, in my view, far too few people engage themselves doing. Far too much of the media, in my view, is actively engaged in, the better to appease vested interests and service bad incentives in the marketplace.
This happens in every segment of the media - from politics to consumer goods like cars, and tech, and cameras, and holidays and real estate. There’s a lot of toe-touching in the media, and very little substance.
So, I’m happy being a constructive exterminator of carmaker bullshit. And nobody else is, apparently, lining up to eliminate this plague, like some pied piper focussed on the infestation of human rats.
Finally, AutoExpert makes money getting discounts off EVs exactly the same way as we do for internal combustion cars. We fight dirty with dealers so you don’t have to. It really is that simple. It’s powertrain-independent. So there’s no need to whinge about that, Giles, right at the end. No need whatsoever.
Hasta la vista.
If you’re about to drop $50,000 on an electric vehicle from upstart carmaker BYD, you might like to hear about the customer ‘support’ one Canberran couple received after a major battery failure on the highway…