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Daimler CEO says nobody is making money on EVs right now

What do you charge for a vehicle you're going to lose money on? If you're Mercedes-Benz and the vehicle in question is the B-Class Electric Drive, you offer it for lease for just 399 euros ($498) a month with a down payment of 8,473 euros ($10,582). If Daimler was going to price it honestly, it seems, the number would have to be a lot higher. "Nobody today is making a battery-powered vehicle that's economically viable." – Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche That's according to Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, who spoke to reporters in Spain recently and said that, "You can reasonably say that nobody today is making a battery-powered vehicle that's economically viable in its own right. Manufacturers will not see a return within a reasonable time on the billions they're investing now." There are ways to make money in EVs, of course. Just ask Daimler, which recently sold its stake in Tesla for a cool $780 million. Zetsche has some EV-critical company in executives like Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who has said his company loses over $10,000 on each Fiat 500E it sells. Other automakers – e.g., Tesla, Nissan – are much more positive about their financial bet on EVs, but no one is opening all their books to the public to prove this. Tesla, which worked with Mercedes on the B-Class ED, will have an earnings call with investors later today, so perhaps we'll learn something new in a few hours. The B-Class ED lease deal is for 36 months, based on an MSRP of 39,151 euros ($48,895) in Europe, including the 19 percent VAT. You can read more in the press release below. Commercial release of Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive: Local emission-free driving from ˆ399/month Stuttgart, Nov 03, 2014 With its high-torque electric motor, the B-Class Electric Drive delivers lively and superior driving pleasure – with zero local emissions. The B-Class Electric Drive is now available to order, with deliveries set to start before the end of 2014. Prices start at ˆ39,151[1]. The B-Class Electric Drive can be leased through the Mercedes-Benz Bank from ˆ399 a month[2]. Further information on the full range of tailor-made leasing and financing offers as well as specific pricing examples are available at http://www.mercedes-benz-bank.de. Quiet and local emission-free driving is ensured by a 132 kW electric motor, which, as is typical of an electric drive, delivers its maximum torque of 340 Nm right from the start. The result is noticeably powerful acceleration from rest.

Genesis G70 vs sport sedan rivals: How it compares on paper

We got our first look at the Genesis G70 sport sedan today. We think it looks good, with enough ties to its fellow Genesises (Geneses?) to further establish the brand and just enough distinction to help it stand out from the crowd. But ah yes, the crowd. Although Genesis didn't release the G70's full spec sheet, it revealed just enough for us to start sizing it up to its future competition. There are certainly others with which to compare (Lexus IS, Cadillac ATS, Alfa Romeo Giulia, Jaguar XE just to name a few), but we decided to take a look at the best sellers and most competitive luxury sport sedans. (And hey, if you like this, we can always do a follow up) So, here we have the Genesis G70 vs BMW 3 Series vs Audi A4 / S4 vs Mercedes-Benz C-Class vs Infiniti Q50. Nothing like a good chart to dig your teeth into on a Friday. Note that we only compared those models that line up with the G70. So, we left out the BMW 320i and Audi A4 Ultra entry level models as well as the Q50 3.0t mid-grade model that's considerably cheaper than the German performance upgrade models we listed. All 0-60 figures are rough estimates based on several sources, models/drivetrains and OEM figures. Related Video: Featured Gallery Genesis G70 vs other sport sedans View 15 Photos Audi BMW Genesis Infiniti Mercedes-Benz Luxury Sedan consumer infiniti q50 audi s4 genesis g70 mercedes-benz c-class bmw 330i bmw 340i

Nissan edges out Tesla for most ZEV credits sold in California

When it comes to California zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) credits last year, Nissan was selling and Mercedes-Benz was buying. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) put out its ZEV-credits numbers for the year that ended September 30, which is why we now know that Nissan, maker of the battery-electric Leaf, transferred 663.6 ZEV credits out of its account last year. That just edged out the 650.195 credits that Tesla sold. Chrysler's Fiat affiliate was a distant third, but its limited-production Fiat 500E was still able to generate some ZEV credits and then transfer out 235.2 of them. We don't know how much the buyers paid for these credits, since those details are kept private. It's an ever-changing rulebook over at CARB, anyway. On the flip side, Mercedes-Benz had to buy 663.6 ZEV credits in order to comply with clean vehicle-sales mandates in the most populous US state, indicative of the German automaker's gas-guzzling tendencies. Honda has cars that get better fuel economy than your average Benz, but its plug-in vehicles represent just a fraction of total sales and so it had to shell out for 542.5 ZEV credits. Chrysler-Fiat basically tread water, since the 237.8 ZEV credits it required for compliance canceled out gains on the other side of the ledger. Those Dodge Ram pickup trucks don't exactly help matters. Last year, Tesla sold the most ZEV credits while GM purchased the most. Overall, Californians bought about 3.5 million vehicles for the year that ended September 30, including 38,000 battery-electric vehicles, 30,000 plug-in hybrids and 570,000 conventional hybrids. The longstanding ZEV program means that California now has more than 100,000 ZEVs on its roads. Read this for more details on ZEV credit transfers in California. Featured Gallery 2013 Nissan Leaf View 55 Photos News Source: California Air Resources Board via Green Car Congress Government/Legal Green Mercedes-Benz Nissan Tesla Electric California zev credits