"6. as a corollary, the dealer rep who assisted me in the acquisition of this car has told me that benz is radically reducing the number of AMG cars for this and future production years.

didn't have the exact numbers, but said that the number of AMG cars that will be produced for the future would be reduced by 80%."

Point #6 makes sense since CAFE requirements must be met or MBZ will have to pay HUGE fines. Reducing the number of available AMG cars would help somewhat in that effort since they all get terrible gas mileage. I think they may seriously be bringing the A and B class cars to more markets including North America. They already make the S400 hybrid, and expanded the number of markets in which they sell a 4 cylinder diesel version of the S class. It may also be the reason why the Smart brand is still alive. Despite crappy sales numbers since the start, they continue to throw cash at it for new designs and updates.

I don't really think Mercedes-Benz cares about the resell value of their cars. At least, it would seem that way since about 1950.

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2006 BMW M5 "Heidi" @ 109,000 miles
2005 MBZ C55 AMG "Lorelai" @ 165,000 miles
1991 MBZ 300E "Benzachino II" @ 165,000 miles
1990 MBZ 500SL "Shoshanna" @ 118,000 miles

(On the hunt for a good used M103 engine as of 6/10/23, PM me if you have one to sell!)