Daimler Dismantled A Rented Tesla Model X For Research

DooKey

DooKey

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Back in July and August of this year Daimler rented a Model X from German rental firm Sixt. Normally you would think this is a non-issue. Not this time because Daimler decided they wanted to take the Model X apart for research. When they finally returned it the car had lots of damage and had been run all over Europe outside of the agreed upon area in the contract. I don't know what they were thinking about when they dismantled a rental vehicle. This one is going to cost them far more than just buying a new car outright. SMDH.

During the rental period, the car was apparently disassembled and screwed together again. In addition, it was tested under extreme conditions - including heat, on a vibrating track and a traction track. In the original lease [agreement] with Sixt, however, both the disassembly and use on test tracks were not disclosed. At the end of the rental period, the vehicle was returned with damages in five-digit [figures, in Euros].
 
Daimler needs to worry about making a solid ice car that doesn't rust and shakes apart before moving on too new tech. Also nice to make a car that reliably can start in freezing cold.
 
TwiceOver said:
This is what I was wondering. Maybe they are in pretty bad shape as a company and couldn't afford one.
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I assume that was a joke. They own many companies and had a net income of 9bil euros. I'm pretty sure they could afford it.
 
Why would a parent company of Mercedes just not buy it through someone else? Surely they've got to have more than 100k to play with in their RnD budget.
 
Hopefully they will fire the id01t who though this was a good idea.
 
That is stupid. Why not just buy one outright and reverse engineer it like all other companies do?
 
This sounds like the dumbest business decision of all time. By they time they invested all the man hours in disassembly and analysis, the cost of the car is practically moot. Plus, now as they learn more, they have nothing to go back and reference. Unless they planned on renting another.
 
Monkey God said:
Just get walk away rental car insurance. They dont have that in Eurostan?
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pretty sure that wouldnt cover deliberate acts.... like...completely tearing down the car and putting it back together in the shape of a T-Rex complete with moving arms.
it'd be cool.. but dont think it'd be covered.

which was the mistake here... had they returned it in the shape of a T-Rex with moving arms, they'd be heros.
 
RogueTadhg said:
Why would a parent company of Mercedes just not buy it through someone else? Surely they've got to have more than 100k to play with in their RnD budget.
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Mercedes hasn't owned Chrysler in over 10 years. They divested themselves of that, which was actually for the better. They took what they could from Chrysler and then nearly drove them into the ground.

It's Fiat who's in joint ownership with them now. I'm not sure that's much better with them pushing things like the Fiat 500 Abarth being pushed, 200, or the Dart. They aren't exactly winning over reviewers with reliability or ride quality. The pacifica, demon/hellcat, charger remain strong however. And the dodge trucks come with awesome power. But they fall apart quickly.
 
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As a person who worked at a plant that built ECUs, etc. for Daimler Chrysler this surprises me not one bit.

When I was there, Chrysler was having problems with HUGE voltage spikes in their electrical systems. Instead of them fixing the problem, they demanded that we redesign the ECUs and other electronics to handle the HUGE voltage spikes.

After I was in that meeting, it only cemented my decision even more to NEVER own another Chrysler product.
 
What?:eek: how did they figure that out?:confused: I swear it looked brand new. did you tell somebody something? :cautious:
 
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