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Comment by mindo | Hacker News Reader

Yet they are rumored to be sourcing 2026 CLA engine from Chinese Geely. Nothing agains Chinese companies, but aren't MB suppose to be luxury brand? Geely will probably offer vehicle with same engine, more tech for half the price.

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Mercedes is pushing some pretty awful motors, like the new C63 4cyl turbo hybrid thing. Of course, a lot of this is driven by regulation, not Mercedes being cheap.

That R&D budget hasn't resulted in Mercedes making good engines. For example the M271 was notorious for going through timing chains, a supposedly lifetime part, in about 100 000 km.

I've also owned two Mercedes and both have had the rear brake lines rust away. Thankfully in the latter they were replaced before they rusted through.

I would imagine fewer and fewer manufacturers are wanting to invest in combustion engine development at this stage, but regulations are getting ever tighter in much of the world. Plus an increasing number of people just want a vehicle as an appliance; if it looks cool and it's nice inside, they don't care what's making it go as long as it's reasonably reliable and doesn't drink fuel.

Out of all the Chinese car companies, the one that owns Volvo and Lotus is probably not a bad choice. They also plan to produce the Smart electric vehicles as a part of a joint venture with Geely. The CLA is also supposed to get self driving tech from Chinese startup Momenta.

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