Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius Announces G-Wagon Cabriolet's Revival

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I'm Hannah Elliott.

And I'm Matt Miller, and this is Hot Pursuit.

Coming up on the show, we speak with Mercedes CEO,

Ola Kalenius.

This is a really big deal that Ola came to talk with us, Matt,

and I am very excited about what he chose

to share with us, a world exclusive on Hot Pursuit.

The last time we had it, I think the last series

was in 2013, you could buy it.

We had a final edition.

If you had bought one of those,

and I know that Bloomberg viewers are savvy business

people, you would have gotten it

a little bit north of $100,000.

If you wanna buy one now, a used one, albeit,

you probably have to pay between four and 500,000.

So you see the icon status.

That is coming up on the show.

But first, I wanna talk about a competitor

to that G-Wagon.

I've been driving the Land Rover Defender Akta

for the last week.

And Hannah, I'm sure you know, this is the V8 version,

and it is essentially a BMW V8,

a twin-turbo 4.4 liter powertrain that they use

in the Range Rover and have been for a few years.

Otherwise, you can't get a V8 in the Defender anymore.

They did have the beloved supercharged

five liter powertrain in that previously.

Now this is your only choice for a V8.

And it's a stunning vehicle, I think,

from the exterior.

They've executed it really well.

Mine came in this really cool dark green,

almost black color.

But the price is so high for such a Spartan vehicle.

You know, the Defender on the interior is pretty Spartan.

They've made it nice with leather and stuff.

But 153,000 in change, I think,

is the starting price before you add any options.

Which makes it, you know,

60% more expensive than a Bronco Raptor.

50% more expensive than a Jeep Wrangler 392.

And even more expensive than the base Mercedes G-Wagon,

which I think is a huge ask, right?

Because it's just, I mean, it's special,

but is it as special as a G-Class?

Well, here's my question to you.

For that price, if I saw the Octa on the street,

would I know it's the special one or not?

No, no.

I don't think, unless you are a Land Rover Defender fanatic,

or, you know, I mean, you might know it's the Octa,

and I might know it's the Octa,

but no one else would know.

And honestly, you can get really cool colorways

in the other models.

So, yeah, I don't think it sounds particularly good.

You know, it's not a big displacement,

it almost sounds like an inline six motor.

Maybe that's just the fact that I know it's got a BMW heritage,

but you wouldn't know, no.

Yeah, I mean, it's interesting

because you think my thought process is,

okay, like defenders wore ranch vehicles forever.

So does it seem weird that one is that expensive?

Yes, but then you got to say,

well, the G-Class was a military vehicle.

Was it fair to hold the Land Rover to a different standard?

I don't know.

Somehow the Land Rover feels like it should be

a little bit more attainable to me somehow.

Yeah, and the weird thing is this price is higher

than the price you would pay for a Range Rover

with the same powertrain.

So, okay, it's got bigger turbochargers.

It has over 600 horsepower.

They've beefed it up a little bit,

but you can get the Range Rover,

which is a step up from the Defender.

It's certainly in terms of luxury for like 135

with a 4.4 liter twin turbo V8.

So I don't know how many sales

they're gonna make of this.

Yeah, it'll be interesting.

There's also a part of me that's like,

well, what about just a Ford Bronco?

If you're going in that direction

and you want something kind of retro,

but the new version of it,

you could just get a Ford Bronco, right?

Call it even.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

I mean, that's probably what I would do.

I love the way the Bronco looks.

I frankly, I prefer it to the Defender.

It's not quite as big the Bronco.

And then the one issue that will be important

to a lot of well-heeled buyers is the NVH issue

that I will speak about

and just build it with Ola Colenius,

the CEO of Mercedes.

The Bronco, no matter what you do to it, it's loud.

It vibrates a lot.

It's pretty harsh in terms of getting in and out

and living with it on a daily basis.

It's great.

That's what you want with that kind of vehicle

for a lot of people.

But this Defender, much like the G-Class,

is very vault-like on the inside.

When you get in there,

you're completely protected from everything outside

and you don't hear everything outside.

It doesn't rattle or shake too much.

So at least it's got the noise, vibration,

and harshness under control

in terms of what you would expect from a luxury vehicle.

Well, that's good to hear.

Yeah, I can't wait to drive it.

I think I might have that coming up in my roster.

I hope I can drive it and compare it

and see if I agree with you, Matt.

All right, that's coming up.

Well, your drive will come up on a future program.

And the Mercedes interview, CEO of Mercedes,

is coming up on this program.

You're listening to Hot Pursuit from Bloomberg Radio.

I'm Matt Miller along with Hannah Elliott.

We've got more on the way after this.

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Now let's talk about concept cars.

Audi just rolled out a new one

and Hannah, you were there.

Yes, I was there and I'm still here actually.

In Milan, the early part of this week,

Audi had a big media event last night

at a hotel owned by the Ferragamo family, incidentally,

or created by them.

Actually, I think it's owned by the Vatican.

Anyway, Audi debuted the Concept C,

which they are saying is basically

their complete moonshot revolution

that they are basing all of their brand imaging

and all of their products on from here going forward.

The Concept C is a two-seat electric sports car

that basically, if you can imagine a TT

and an R8 pushed together,

you kind of get the Concept C.

Although the Concept C is longer and wider

than both of those, especially the R8,

that's kind of what you're looking at.

It's very brutalist.

It's like a monolithic block

and it's also got a drop top.

It's a Targa-style sports car.

So yeah, it was very interesting to spend a few days

with Audi and hear about this car

and hear them talk about striving for clarity,

which is their new tagline.

And they basically were very upfront about saying,

we got way too complicated.

We were trying to be all things to all people.

We were too complex for our consumers.

We tried to do everything all at once

and now we are going to pair it all back

and we're doing simple, minimal in a real way.

And the Concept C is their attempt at that.

They can learn from Land Rover Defender

because that interior is minimalist.

But actually it makes sense to me.

Audi is the luxury brand of Volkswagen

and I can see that they do their sort of fru fru stuff

with Bentley or Porsche or Lamborghini, right?

They might as well keep it simple,

minimalist luxury with Audi.

I feel like that tracks.

Yeah, I mean, I would say Bentley

is the luxury brand of Volkswagen really.

And throw in Lamborghini.

Honestly, I think Audi has really been struggling

and they admit it.

I mean, this isn't anything new.

They've struggled to even be a choice behind Porsche,

obviously within their own family,

but even behind BMW and Mercedes,

if you had asked me what does Audi mean,

I would have been a little unclear.

It's been vague.

So yeah, it's interesting that you bring up luxury brand

because yesterday in a round table,

their chief, Dolner, said we want to be

the most aspirational premium brand out there.

And he kind of admitted, he knows they're not right now

and they really need to ramp up and go for it.

I guess they're like premium economy for Volkswagen

and then Bentley is like a full-on business class

or first class.

I feel like, by the way,

Audi, my dad had an Audi 5000 when I was a little kid.

Audi, the RS2 was the first performance car

that I ever drove.

I drove an RS2 with a stick in Cologne

when I was like 18 years old.

And then an Audi A4 station wagon

was the first new car I ever bought with my own money.

So I have a real personal connection.

Also, Audi made my favorite concept vehicle of all time,

the Audi Nanook, N-A-N-U-K.

Wow, that is a clear reference.

Yeah, so I mean, I'm happy for them to

make somewhat of a comeback.

I thought, you know, the e-tron era,

at the very beginning, I thought this is gonna take off

and it kind of didn't.

So I'm glad that they're stepping it up.

This is a whole new era for sure at Audi.

They have their designer, Massimo Frisella.

Of course, it's perfect for our use.

He was formerly at Jaguar Land Rover

until last year, last year he moved to Audi

and obviously he didn't completely design

this new concept C.

He didn't have that much time,

but Audi was quick to say

that he did have his hands on this vehicle

and Massimo is obsessed with the TT.

Like that is his icon.

I didn't hear you mention the TT in your list, Matt.

So that makes me think, maybe it's too small for us.

But you know, yeah, I never, honestly,

I never liked the TT.

It felt too small.

But Massimo loved it and it's interesting

that we've been talking about Land Rovers

because he was at Land Rover for many years.

Now he's at Audi.

And he thinks Audi has icons too,

just like you're saying, Matt.

So and of course the auto union cars from the 30s,

like those old race cars really were exceptional.

And I think Audi's trying to retain

some of that glamour as well.

Yeah, in the class B, Quattro as well.

All right, coming up on the show,

we speak with Mercedes CEO, Ola Kalenius.

I'm Matt Miller, along with Hannah Elliott.

More hot pursuit after the break.

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We are now joined by Ola Kalenius.

He's chairman of the management board

and CEO at Mercedes-Benz.

Ola, thank you for joining Hot Pursuit.

Pleasure to be with you guys.

And yes, we are in the final preparations for this weekend.

And we have, of course,

brought some great world premieres to Munich this year.

So what are you gonna show?

What's the standout debut for you at Munich this year?

The standout debut is the all-new electric GLC,

which is based upon a whole new architecture

that we call Mercedes-Benz Electric Architecture, MBEA.

Considering that the GLC today in our portfolio

is our most sold model,

we have taken that extremely popular car

and literally in every dimension

taking it to the next level.

So this is a very, very big world premiere for us.

So Ola, tell us how important this GLC is

in hitting some of your targets

that you've talked about, obviously,

the world EVs is slightly chaotic these days.

How crucial is this car for Mercedes?

It's a very important car

because that segment, the compact SUVs,

that's a model that is popular everywhere in the world.

And that segment has grown for us over the years.

And indeed, it is individually the most sold car

from Mercedes-Benz.

So when you do that,

you really want to delight Mercedes fans

and customers around the world

and also surprise them a little bit.

So in this particular case, I think the engineers,

they looked at this as a special challenge.

And of course, it's a second generation electric vehicle.

So in all powertrain dimensions,

incredible on efficiency,

should be around benchmarking its class

with that coming good range, incredibly fast charging.

Charging almost turns into the same thing as fueling,

not quite, but you can charge several hundred kilometers

in 10 minutes.

So all of those dimensions,

and for those people who maybe have not made the leap

into the electric era yet,

we had tried to engineer out every reason why you wouldn't.

And of course, it's going to be a Mercedes

through and through.

It's ushered in our new design language.

So next generation design language from Mercedes

will start with this car.

And if you step into it, you feel at home.

It's like a welcome home feeling of a Mercedes-Benz.

And considering it's a compact SUV, it's pretty big.

If I put myself in my most comfortable driving position

and I'm six, four and a half,

I could actually sit behind myself very comfortably,

have space between the seat and my knees

and certainly between the head and my,

and the very beautiful sky roof.

So we have thought this package through

into the last detail.

So I think this car is something

that is going to convince Mercedes fans around the world.

Sounds impressive, certainly for tall drivers.

Hannah and I both have the same issues.

I'm sure that you have in a normal vehicle.

What about the boldness that we've seen from BMW?

Some analysts are worried that Mercedes

may be a little bit more conservative.

I'm not sure that they can make that judgment

until they see the vehicle this weekend,

but you know, 400 horsepower from a dual motor setup

in the Neue Clasta, 400 miles of EPA range,

200 miles of charging in 10 minutes.

Can you meet or beat those standards?

If you would just take out the technical spec book

of the new GLC, we're not going to be shy

in literally every single dimension.

We will be world-class in many the outright leader

and in some amongst the best.

So we have pulled out all the stops with the new GLC.

So I'm not at all worried that the technical specs

of this vehicle has anything to hide.

And I also would like to highlight

the new Mercedes-Benz operating system

and the ADAS capability of this vehicle.

It literally has 27 sensors looking in all directions

and it has the supercomputer on board

and all the genes for jumping into level two plus plus

automated driving from the word go

where it's regulatory allowed.

So literally it feels like you have an autonomous car,

still in this case supervised by the driver.

And if you then add the absolutely insane

ultra screen pillar to pillar,

and I'm talking about one seamless screen in this case

and how we have added any digital experience

that you can possibly dream of to this car

but also given it an aesthetic look

like maybe you have on your smartphone

you have a very, very nice and beautiful wallpaper.

All of those things that also makes the feeling

inside the car a digital delightful experience.

But beyond the high tech

where we're definitely going to be on the leading edge

it's more than this, it's a car made for you.

So every single dimension of the car,

the safety, the way it rides and drives

how the seat wraps around you

and you can drive hundreds of miles

and you feel refreshed when you step out of the car.

The things that make a Mercedes-Benz a Mercedes-Benz

all of those things have been taken

to the next level in this car as well.

So creating an important vehicle like this

it's not just about the flashy technical numbers

that we have, it's really thinking through

what does the human want?

This is human-centered innovation at its very best.

Stay tuned for Sunday when we reveal it.

Ola, I'm curious on the other side of things

I know obviously you're the head

of the European automaker body, the ACEA

and you've been pretty vocal about regulations

that are realistic for meeting decarbonation goals, et cetera.

Can you tell us a little bit more

about what you mean by realistic?

What would that look like

to have a market-driven regulatory infrastructure

versus something else?

So in the role as president of ACEA this year

and it's something that rotates

between the CEOs of the car makers in Europe

you have to kind of take off your own hat

running your own company.

So I take off the Mercedes-Benz hat

and I put on an industry hat and talk to all the OEMs

but not just the 20 plus OEMs.

In this case we stand side by side

with the sister organization for the suppliers

that is called CLEPA and Mattias Tink of CLEPA and I

are working with the suppliers and the OEMs

to do an inventory or where we stand right now

in the regulatory environment

and how we successfully transform this industry

and successfully find the right path towards decarbonization.

So I wanna stress that this is all the OEMs

with of course some various opinions

but a strong common denominator

and literally thousands and thousands of suppliers.

And the conclusion that we come to is quite clear.

We're all on the way towards zero emission.

There are no ifs or buts that is the journey

that is the destination.

The EU as an economic region has committed

to being net zero by 2050.

We wholeheartedly support this.

We also wholeheartedly support that electrification

is the main road to this.

So the electric vehicle will play the main role

in achieving those targets on the way to net zero.

To demonstrate that not only have we

in the last five or six years put hundreds of billions

of investment into this manufacturers and suppliers

and launched hundreds of vehicles.

So there is a very broad offering already.

And on top of that, we are about to invest

the next chunk of hundreds of billions into this.

So the industry is committed.

I wanna say that as a preface

before we go into the challenges

and we need to make some course corrections.

In spite of the ambition, in spite of those good efforts,

one must recognize and for the world as a whole

the world markets at the whole

it's a very heterogeneous picture.

You use the word chaotic, I would say heterogeneous

that the state or the take rate of BVs

what we thought five or six years ago

is not yet at the level in 2025 that we should have been at.

And we're now looking at kind of nine years time

to go to literally 100%.

And that's where we're saying, okay

if we haven't achieved as a market, as a region

already the milestones, then we analyze why is that

and where do we make a course correction?

And we suggest in general, two main things.

One is absolutely doubling down on the enabling factors

and putting money behind and effort behind everything

that you need to make electric mobility successful.

I'm gonna use one example, charging infrastructure.

The EU has 27 individual countries.

I would say in about six or seven of those

in the last five, six years

a significant effort has been made

and charging infrastructure has been built up

maybe not as much as it should have been at this stage

but it's on the way

but literally in 20 of the 27 countries

it's still in its infancy.

Do we believe, do we really believe

to cover 100% of the purchase intent by 2035

in nine years time that in those nine years

we're gonna go from an infancy stage

to fully fledged built out charging infrastructure

in every single country

because we're talking about the whole market here.

That's going to be a herculean task.

Whatever we do, we have to double down on this

to make sure that electric mobility becomes

even more attractive to consumers

and ultimately is the thing.

You can couple that with all sorts of other measures

where we're suggesting to the commission

not a ready recipe and say do exactly this

but think about incentivization and nudging

when shaping policies to make the total cost of ownership

of the electric vehicle even more attractive

so that we can get ultimately one day

to full penetration

but it seems in just stock taking

it's a very, very big ask

now that we're around 15% take rate in 2025

achieved in the last five or six years

to do the 85 in nine years time

but that ask double down on the enabling conditions

that's number one.

Number two, we think that the method in general

that is being applied select only one stakeholder

of many in this once in a hundred years systemic shift

and put the complete burden on that stakeholder

in this case the producer of the vehicle

and if the producer of the vehicle doesn't make it

sanction it with draconian penalties.

We don't think that method

that planning method is the best method.

We want to turn it on its head and say

why don't we use market forces instead

and switch to a market economy driven approach

with incentivization and nudging

free up the market for technology neutrality

and let the consumer choose

and I underline again with the electric car

as the main actor in this play

but also allow different forms of hybrid formats

and maybe a sliver at the bottom of combustion

high tech combustion, electrified combustion vehicles

where some of the segments of the markets by 2035

were still hard to evade from a consumer point of view.

If we switch to that, we should then open up the horizon

and look at the complete CO2 footprint

of what's going on, not just the tailpipe emission

of the newly registered vehicles that are bought

in that year.

In fact, the car park in Europe is 250 million vehicles

and new registration sits at around 13 million vehicles.

So you have in that sense maybe 5% turnover of the fleet

every year if consumers don't choose to hang on

to their cars longer.

So why don't we look at the CO2 footprint

in a more holistic way and see if we can find ways

if we flexibilize 2035 to also reduce CO2

of the whole value chain here.

So we want to open up the discussion

and if we do do that, we can avoid,

and I'll end with this for now,

we can avoid an effect that maybe if the system is not ready,

what could consumers do?

And I think this is a scenario that is not unlikely.

If not every purchase intent is covered by then

through charging infrastructure or other reasons

why the consumer wants to go for something else,

the consumer might buy the last combustion vehicles

in 33 or 34, hold on to it longer

the car park gets older, very bad for decarbonization.

The market reduces drastically

or maybe even collapses in 2035

and it takes three or four or five years for it to recover

back up to the 13 million.

You would destroy so much economic value,

harm so many companies, so many suppliers,

mid-size, smaller family owned businesses.

Why would we want to jeopardize

that economic strength of Europe's biggest industry

when there perhaps is a better path to green?

That is what these two associations,

Asiya and Klepa are suggesting.

Well, you know, it makes total sense, Ola,

and I just wonder, you don't have a lot of time left, right?

And you're gonna, I think the EU's gonna revisit

this 2035 goal next year.

So have you had a chance to speak with the,

for example, the incoming German government

because they're willing to put their money

where their mouth is when it comes to defensive Ukraine,

shouldn't they be willing to put their money

where their mouth is when it comes to, you know,

planet Earth and also, you know,

how many hundreds of thousands of auto workers

are there in Germany?

Is Friedrich Mayer gonna step up?

In this role as president of the Association,

I and also my counterpart for Klepa,

of course, we're speaking with policy makers

in Brussels on all levels,

but also in the different countries.

And yes, of course, we have also spoken

to the German government.

And I think the, and many other governments for that matter,

but also to trade unions and other stakeholders.

As I said, this is a multi-stakeholder systemic shift

once in a hundred years.

We're talking about the transformation

of the world's biggest industry.

So it's not the small tasks here.

What I think is happening now

is that we have a debate both in the industry

and with many of these stakeholders

and certainly in the political space

where a lot of people are thinking like us saying,

oh, hang on a minute.

If it's not working the way we intended to,

yes, we need to have a political conversation about it.

But of course, there's also strong commitment

to say decarbonization is one of the major tasks

of this generation.

Let's not lose any speed or any momentum

in decarbonization.

So I think there are some stakeholders that go like,

if we do go for flexibilization,

what's gonna happen?

Are we gonna slow down?

It's not what we're suggesting.

We're suggesting to switch method to a method

that we think is actually going to be more successful

than the current method.

So I am fully aware that this political debate is alive.

And right now we're in this period

where a common opinion for the EU,

if they're willing to change,

which we urge them to do, needs to be formed.

So expect the next weeks, months, an intense debate on this.

And indeed, the European Commission is listening

to the auto industry assist the German government.

That is for instance, the reason why they invite us

to a summit meeting on the 12th of September

to discuss these matters.

So we're not at the end of the discussion.

I would say we're in the middle of the beginning.

I'm Matt Miller, along with Hannah Elliott.

You're listening to Hot Pursuit.

We have more coming up after this.

Innovation is what gets your business to market.

And Wasabi is designed to give every business

a shot at competition.

How?

Break free from skyrocketing storage costs

and unpredictable egress fees

from old and top heavy legacy providers.

You know, the big guys.

Wasabi is the world's hottest cloud storage company

and the go-to provider for professional

and collegiate sports teams and leagues around the world.

And here's why.

Innovation.

From Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage

Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service

with triple protection against cyber criminals,

data deletion and ransomware.

The world's top companies trust Wasabi.

Remember, Wasabi is up to 80% less than market competition

and doesn't charge a cent for businesses

to access their own data.

Wasabi, another championship story.

Check them out for free at wasabi.com.

Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage,

proud partner of iHeart Podcast Network.

Let's pivot a little bit to what has been really a bright spot

for Mercedes-Benz, the G-Class.

You and I have driven multiple variants

of the G-Class together.

And, you know, there's so much excitement around that vehicle

and so much fandom and fervor for decades.

You guys have already confirmed

there will be a baby G coming.

What can you tell us about how that is coming along

with the planning for that?

And also, can we expect any other variants

of the G-Class coming our way?

So we're now in full series development

of this little brother to the big G.

And we're very excited about that car.

We have shown it to, you know,

some of our trusted dealers and other people

that we know are fans of the brand.

I get the same reaction every time, and they go like, wow.

I mean, is this the G that I've been waiting for,

for my daughter, for my son, or for myself?

So, yes, I can confirm that series development

has started of this vehicle, and it is in the pipeline.

So stay tuned.

But now that you mention it, and yes, Hannah,

I vividly remember going up the famous Schuckel Mountain

outside Gratz in Austria with you over rocks and trees

and what have you, the most hardcore of off-roading

in that electric G.

And I think we mastered that quite well together.

So the G is a legend.

It's an icon in our portfolio.

There is another surprise coming on Sunday in Munich

at the IAA.

We will announce the rebirth of the G-Class Cabriolet.

So the last time we had it, I think the last series

was in 2013.

You could buy it.

We had a final edition.

If you had bought one of those, and I

know that Bloomberg viewers are savvy business people,

you would have gotten it a little bit north of $100,000.

If you want to buy one now, a used one, albeit,

you probably have to pay between $400,000 and $500,000.

So you see the icon status of a G Cabriolet.

And we have had so many fans say, when are you going to bring it back?

When are you going to bring it back?

Now is the time to do it.

So we have decided to kick off the development of an open top G.

Can I ask?

I mean, I have so many questions about this.

I'm a big fan, former owner.

I had a 2020 G500 in Berlin that I loved.

I've now turned it into a house in Scarstale, by the way.

What kind of powertrain are we expecting?

Could this be electric and gas?

Because I think the electric powertrain really

works well for the G-Class.

I know you and Hannah drove it in Schuckel.

I got the chance to drive it around Westchester,

which was also fantastic.

And how do you deal with NVH?

One of the best things about the G-Class

is that you're in an absolute vault.

Compared to other off-road vehicles,

it's just worlds of difference in terms

of the noise, vibration, and harshness.

How do you deal with the convertible?

So on the powertrain, we'll let you guess for a little while longer.

So I'm not going to reveal that here today.

But trust me, the hardcore G fans

are going to love what we're going to do there.

And in terms of NVH, I think this is pretty amazing

what has happened on our convertibles over the year.

I, myself, even though, of course,

I get to drive a company car and I'm thankful for it,

I feel like a kid on my birthday and Christmas

on the same day, every day I step into, in my case,

my EQS SUV Maibach.

I bought last year a personal car.

I bought an SL, which is obviously a convertible.

And I've been driving SLs and test driving

and stuff like that over the many years.

So I know, obviously, what a convertible feels like.

And when it comes to NVH, what struck me the most

next to the incredible beauty of this car

and the performance was that when I took it

for the first time on the Autobahn

and I pushed it a little bit,

is how incredibly quiet it is.

And this is what I love about our engineers.

You know, they never stop, right?

It always gets better and better and better.

So you can rest assured when we electrify,

no, not electrify, when we open up the G

and make it open top, don't worry about it.

You're gonna be able to have a conversation

with whoever sits next to you.

Okay, I gotta ask, what kind of timeline

are we talking about here?

If the baby G might be out in 2027,

what are we thinking for the Cabriolet?

Not too far away.

That's it.

Let's just say that.

Start working on selling that house, Matt.

You don't have to rush it so that you get a good price,

but it's not like it's too far away.

So wait and see.

And a follow-up, is that Cabriolet coming for the world?

Can we expect it'll be in all markets for Mercedes?

In the relevant markets.

Not every market in the world is a Cabriolet market,

but in all the relevant markets.

I wanna ask about the SL.

You mentioned that you bought one for yourself

and I had the pleasure of test driving the AMG SL63 SE

performance last week.

And the power in that thing absolutely blew me away.

And it wasn't until I was talking about it with Hanna

that I actually looked up the specs

and saw it's more than 800 horsepower

and more than a thousand pound feet of torque.

Then I started looking at other vehicles

with those kind of power figures.

And it's not till I get to a Lamborghini Revuelto

at double the price that I start to see

those kinds of figures.

After that, you have to go to Bugatti and then Koenigsegg.

How has that been received?

And 225,000 seemed like a hefty price tag

until I noticed that power.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy, isn't it?

If you're an AMG fan, you're a performance fan.

So you can never have enough performance.

But I think the best news is that is a car

that you can drive every day to work.

So it's not just that you bought a super car

with unbelievable acceleration and performance and all that.

It's a car that you can actually use every single day.

And I think that's the unique position of AMG.

You get motorsports on the road,

but on the road Monday through Friday as well,

not just for a Sunday afternoon outing.

It's really a car that you would like to drive

every single day.

Our thanks, Tola Colenius, for joining us.

He's the Chairman of the Management Board

and CEO of Mercedes-Benz.

I'm pretty excited about driving the convertible G-Wagon,

the Cabrio G.

Yeah, my question is gonna be like,

how much of a cage does it have on it?

Is it truly like open open air

or does it have a cage kind of like a Jeep Wrangler?

You know what I mean?

Or are they truly gonna go full Cabrio?

No, I imagine it'll have some kind of roll cage.

That looks pretty boss when they do it right.

Yeah.

Although I guess, did the previous,

did the older models just have a full convertible top?

It was open.

It's been done.

Well, it'll be like 200 grand.

So I'm not gonna be buying one anytime soon.

Freaking dream.

That does it for this week's show.

Remember to follow and subscribe to Hot Pursuit

on Apple Spotify and anywhere else you listen.

You can also send us your comments.

Please send us your comments.

Email us at hoppersuitatbloomburg.net.

And check out Hannah's columns and stories on bloomburg.com

and the Bloomburg business app.

Go there for car reviews, events and stories

that you won't find anywhere else.

Find it all at bloomburg.com slash pursuits slash autos.

I'm Matt Miller.

And I'm Hannah Elliott.

We'll be back in your podcast feed again next week.

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