I don’t know if I’m the only one who sees it this way, but I really don’t think humanity (or Mercedes, for that matter) needs yet another car with more than 1,100 horsepower, an outrageous price tag (putting it firmly out of reach of all but a tiny group of buyers), and very little practical engineering value.
Why do manufacturers keep trying to outdo each other with ever more ridiculous horsepower figures, having long since lost all sense of what is reasonable, instead of focusing on small, light, simple, fast and affordable?
Colin Chapman’s philosophy is more relevant today than ever. All it would take is someone with the courage to swim against the tide and turn that philosophy into a viable mass-production concept.
But then again, who am I to say?
I might as well save myself the trip to Brussels and the meeting with Ursula „Shotgun Uschi“. After all, she (together with the European Parliament and the Council) has spent the past few years doing a remarkably effective job of ensuring that groundbreaking innovation no longer stands a chance of emerging from the EU.
If only it weren’t so painful to stand by and watch it all happen…