New Mercedes Vehicles

[bjstare]

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I think modern day vehicles are very much built to last until the end of the warranty period, and no longer.

Ftfy.

Car companies exist to maximize value for shareholders, and a great way to do this is to engineer something to be built easily/quickly, and not over-build it at all. Any item on the car that lasts longer than the warranty, represents a corner that can be cut a bit tighter.

[XylathaneGTR]

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Ftfy.
Any item on the car that lasts longer than the warranty, represents a corner that can be cut a bit tighter.

"Optimized" and "Value Engineered" are the words you're looking for

[bjstare]

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"Optimized" and "Value Engineered" are the words you're looking for

"I must spread some rep..."

[Flexray]

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No way. The automobile is going the other direction.

As they get to be viewed as commodities, people will start to treat them that way. The market will shift to durability over making them expensive baubles for people to flex. I still predict the car market will look like the phone market within a few years. Some "high end" cars that do a bit more of this or that, but really isn't far from the average car. Nobody even looks at each others' phones anymore to see what they are using. They are 99% about function. With maybe a silly case for the kids.

Cost of ownership, replaceability/modularity of car parts will be more important than phones, but there will be a significant drive towards practicality, repairability, and reduced cost of ownership.

I very much agree with this.

Car culture is over. Days of the fast and the furious are gone. The next generation of transportation is being developed. There is a massive space race to train autonomous driving programs.
Give it a few more years and I bet HOV lanes will be converted into autonomous only lanes. The best way to reduce traffic is to remove the humans.
As vehicle autonomy grows the way they are repaired is going to change. I'm already seeing planned obsolescence in components. When the vehicle hits the end of its planned life, it gets recycled. We already have a problem with rolling zombies, this will fix that. I think technician maintenance release forms are coming. No more back yard Bob with his claw hammer and vise grips.
At the end of my career, I will probably be working for a Uber fleet shop.

[ExtraSlow]

Kids these days just don't appreciate.....