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When I grew up in Germany it always made me proud that 100% of taxis were Mercedes Benz. If a car can withstand the rough demands of taxi service, it has to be

When I grew up in Germany it always made me proud that 100% of taxis were Mercedes Benz. If a car can withstand the rough demands of taxi service, it has to be good. And even in South America back then German cares were ubiquitous, especially Volkswagen. When I was in Brazil this spring[*] I rode a lot of Uber and they were 100% BYD - 100%, no exception. It's not that my head hadn't known that German auto was dead but seeing it playing out like this hit hard. [*] northern hemisphere

IshKebab 11mo ago
To be fair taxis have unique requirements. Taxis in the UK were like 80% Prius for a long time because they drive very long distances and hybrids are very cost effective for city driving where you're doing a lot of low speed driving and don't have convenient recharging opportunities. But most people aren't in that situation. Still, I think BYD are kind of killing it.
- Tade0 11mo ago
  > But most people aren't in that situation. Those who commute from the suburbs actually save even more as hybrids achieve their lowest consumption going a steady 50-70km/h. Of course the same people could just get an EV and charge at home, but in terms of cost-effectiveness hybrids still win in this use case.
  - ponector 11mo ago
    Unless you have a really cheap electricity at home (not like in EU) the best price per km has old Prius with LNG fuel. Also reliable, there are tons of them with 500k+ km on the clock.
    - Tade0 11mo ago
      Over here LPG is the gas of choice and indeed taxi drivers regularly have that installed in their hybrids.
toomuchtodo 11mo ago
BYD recently went live with a highly automated, large scale manufacturing facility in Brazil. The BYD Dolphin Mini sells for ~$22,500, and the manufacturer already has 200 showrooms open across the country. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/22/cop-brazil-electric-vehicles-donald-trump-china-00665693 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/22/cop-brazil... https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-Rolls-off-the-Line-in-Brazil https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-...
- moffkalast 11mo ago
  I'm surprised Mercedes was ever price competitive for taxis even in Germany, I mean the average VW would do the job just as well at half the cost. These days they're both priced like they're selling Ferraris anyway so yeah. The ID Buzz starting at 70k EUR is such a joke.
  - forinti 11mo ago
    I remember all taxis in Portugal being beige Mercedes in the 80s,when Portugal wasn't well off. I guess their durability is what made them worthwhile.
  - SoftTalker 11mo ago
    Mercedes taxis in Europe are not appointed like the cars they sell in North America. They are just normal cars there.
    - jimmydddd 11mo ago
      I remember being in a Mercedes in France in the 80's and noticing it had manual crank windows. My dad in the US (even then!) hated added electronics in cars so he went to a Mercedes dealer and they explained that in the US we could only get fully loaded models.
  - _zoltan_ 11mo ago
    I can't wait for BYD to enter the European market with a true minibus like VW's ID Buzz. There is a rumor that the M9 is coming in 2026.
MomsAVoxell 11mo ago
I've been riding a German electric motorbike for a couple of years, and before that, German electric mopeds. I think there is a lot of innovation in the German electric vehicle industry. I am quite excited for BTM, my bikes manufacturer, to design and release new versions of their platform. This model is distinctly German.
nutjob2 11mo ago
Sadly the German car industry has lost its way in the EV transition and is now vainly trying to get the EU to rollback the sun setting of ICE car sales in 3035. Meanwhile the Chinese are eating their lunch.
- yunnpp 11mo ago
  3035? :)
  - nutjob2 11mo ago
    Even 1010 years isn't enough time.
rr808 11mo ago
I think the issue is to create an ICE is a very complicated process requiring lots of specialist knowledge, skills and technologies. An EV is just much simpler, comes down to who has the cheapest batteries. Europe and Japan are great at the former, the latter no chance.
- Ankaios 11mo ago
  Europe and Japan are great at the former, the latter no chance. Europe and Japan should be totally capable of producing super inexpensive batteries. They just don't, at the moment.
  - nine_k 11mo ago
    How? By building entirely automated factories, they way they do for medicine production?
- AngryData 11mo ago
  Im sure some of it is personal bias from experience with them but I don't think ICE are as complicated as some people think. 90% of the extra shit on them are unnecessary for it to work but what those things are and what they do and why it broke or failed or how important they are is essentially obfuscated from the general public so they seem like overly complicated magic. The vast majority of cars I see do not fail or get trashed due to engine failure from design flaws or anything, most get trashed because people stop caring about them and treat them like trash and don't replace that $15 sensor, others think they can't afford the maintenance because car manufacturers don't give a fuck about having to take 3 hours disassembling other unnecessary shit to replace a 30 cent sensor that they know will eventually need replaced, but the only number the customer seems to look at is the total cost of the mechanic quote. They think because something is a $1,000+ repair that something seriously is worn or old and that the car is on its last legs, instead of the reality of that one part being a huge pain in the ass to replace but it is otherwise a good reliable motor for another 100,000+ miles. And of the cars that do get trashed because they have actual major mechanical problems, the vast majority of the problems have to do with the body work rusting out and/or suspension components needing replaced after being used for 3x their expected lifetime, which an EV is not going to improve in any way. Like ive seen people junkyard perfectly working and good cars because it is over 150,000 miles and some service guy who is looking for work/money told them they need to do scheduled maintenance some time soon and they thought the car was too old and was junk. And yet very few cars ive seen would not make it over 300,000 miles if they spent even 1/10th the money of their new car for maintenance on their old.
ErroneousBosh 11mo ago
In the UK, for a very long time they were Skoda Octavias. I know of two ex-taxis that were scrapped at about five or six years old - one was taken off the road because of a deep paint scratch down to bare metal from about half way along the front wing to the rear door, rendering it beyond economic repair - with over half a million miles on the clock each. Neither had been outside the Greater Glasgow area since they were dropped off on the transporter.
dzonga 11mo ago
Tesla has no moat 1. Batteries - BYD has them beat 2. Self Driving tech - other players are better 3. Luxury brands already provide the luxury aspect & even better built cars 4. in the US they're being saved by US protectionism. in Europe etc - we already see the chinese brands making inroads for EV sales
- tensor 11mo ago
  I mostly agree on all points, but what self driving tech is better? I've periodically looked at the options, and nothing really seems to compare in North America. Maybe BYD and others have great tech, but stuff like Blue Cruise works hardly anywhere in Canada, and to me, that makes it virtually useless.
  - amanaplanacanal 11mo ago
    Certainly waymo is better, but you can't buy it. Yet, anyway.
  - audunw 11mo ago
    He’s probably thinking of robo taxi self driving. So that would be e.g. Waymo. I don’t think anyone has better self driving for consumers out atm, but you could argue that’s because other companies are not using their customers as beta testers. I’ve seen demos that may indicate Mobileye has tech that’s just as good if not better. But they don’t release it to end users until it’s fully ready. I don’t think Tesla has any special sauce, and that when the tech is actually ready for unattended full self driving in a consumer car, other car makers will come out with solutions around the same Tesla. One difference is maaaybe Tesla will be able to update old cars (probably with a hardware update). While I think others will only support it on new cars.
    - 01100011 11mo ago
      Yeah this. The argument for years has been something like: > Tesla will solve self-driving and everyone will be left unable to compete. Also, AI is advancing rapidly and will solve all kinds of problems for society. But apparently it will not solve self-driving for anyone else but Tesla. I gave up trying to argue with Tesla fans years ago. They are immune to logic which invalidates their priors.
le-mark 11mo ago
Note the Mercedes as taxis in Germany are not the high end luxury car imports we are accustomed to seeing in the US. Mercedes makes a lot of more affordable cars for their domestic market we never see here!

IshKebab 11mo ago

To be fair taxis have unique requirements. Taxis in the UK were like 80% Prius for a long time because they drive very long distances and hybrids are very cost effective for city driving where you're doing a lot of low speed driving and don't have convenient recharging opportunities. But most people aren't in that situation. Still, I think BYD are kind of killing it.

Tade0 11mo ago
> But most people aren't in that situation. Those who commute from the suburbs actually save even more as hybrids achieve their lowest consumption going a steady 50-70km/h. Of course the same people could just get an EV and charge at home, but in terms of cost-effectiveness hybrids still win in this use case.
- ponector 11mo ago
  Unless you have a really cheap electricity at home (not like in EU) the best price per km has old Prius with LNG fuel. Also reliable, there are tons of them with 500k+ km on the clock.
  - Tade0 11mo ago
    Over here LPG is the gas of choice and indeed taxi drivers regularly have that installed in their hybrids.

toomuchtodo 11mo ago

BYD recently went live with a highly automated, large scale manufacturing facility in Brazil. The BYD Dolphin Mini sells for ~$22,500, and the manufacturer already has 200 showrooms open across the country. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/22/cop-brazil-electric-vehicles-donald-trump-china-00665693 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/22/cop-brazil... https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-Rolls-off-the-Line-in-Brazil https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-...

moffkalast 11mo ago
I'm surprised Mercedes was ever price competitive for taxis even in Germany, I mean the average VW would do the job just as well at half the cost. These days they're both priced like they're selling Ferraris anyway so yeah. The ID Buzz starting at 70k EUR is such a joke.
- forinti 11mo ago
  I remember all taxis in Portugal being beige Mercedes in the 80s,when Portugal wasn't well off. I guess their durability is what made them worthwhile.
- SoftTalker 11mo ago
  Mercedes taxis in Europe are not appointed like the cars they sell in North America. They are just normal cars there.
  - jimmydddd 11mo ago
    I remember being in a Mercedes in France in the 80's and noticing it had manual crank windows. My dad in the US (even then!) hated added electronics in cars so he went to a Mercedes dealer and they explained that in the US we could only get fully loaded models.
- _zoltan_ 11mo ago
  I can't wait for BYD to enter the European market with a true minibus like VW's ID Buzz. There is a rumor that the M9 is coming in 2026.

MomsAVoxell 11mo ago

I've been riding a German electric motorbike for a couple of years, and before that, German electric mopeds. I think there is a lot of innovation in the German electric vehicle industry. I am quite excited for BTM, my bikes manufacturer, to design and release new versions of their platform. This model is distinctly German.

nutjob2 11mo ago

Sadly the German car industry has lost its way in the EV transition and is now vainly trying to get the EU to rollback the sun setting of ICE car sales in 3035. Meanwhile the Chinese are eating their lunch.

yunnpp 11mo ago
3035? :)
- nutjob2 11mo ago
  Even 1010 years isn't enough time.

rr808 11mo ago

I think the issue is to create an ICE is a very complicated process requiring lots of specialist knowledge, skills and technologies. An EV is just much simpler, comes down to who has the cheapest batteries. Europe and Japan are great at the former, the latter no chance.

Ankaios 11mo ago
Europe and Japan are great at the former, the latter no chance. Europe and Japan should be totally capable of producing super inexpensive batteries. They just don't, at the moment.
- nine_k 11mo ago
  How? By building entirely automated factories, they way they do for medicine production?
AngryData 11mo ago
Im sure some of it is personal bias from experience with them but I don't think ICE are as complicated as some people think. 90% of the extra shit on them are unnecessary for it to work but what those things are and what they do and why it broke or failed or how important they are is essentially obfuscated from the general public so they seem like overly complicated magic. The vast majority of cars I see do not fail or get trashed due to engine failure from design flaws or anything, most get trashed because people stop caring about them and treat them like trash and don't replace that $15 sensor, others think they can't afford the maintenance because car manufacturers don't give a fuck about having to take 3 hours disassembling other unnecessary shit to replace a 30 cent sensor that they know will eventually need replaced, but the only number the customer seems to look at is the total cost of the mechanic quote. They think because something is a $1,000+ repair that something seriously is worn or old and that the car is on its last legs, instead of the reality of that one part being a huge pain in the ass to replace but it is otherwise a good reliable motor for another 100,000+ miles. And of the cars that do get trashed because they have actual major mechanical problems, the vast majority of the problems have to do with the body work rusting out and/or suspension components needing replaced after being used for 3x their expected lifetime, which an EV is not going to improve in any way. Like ive seen people junkyard perfectly working and good cars because it is over 150,000 miles and some service guy who is looking for work/money told them they need to do scheduled maintenance some time soon and they thought the car was too old and was junk. And yet very few cars ive seen would not make it over 300,000 miles if they spent even 1/10th the money of their new car for maintenance on their old.

ErroneousBosh 11mo ago

In the UK, for a very long time they were Skoda Octavias. I know of two ex-taxis that were scrapped at about five or six years old - one was taken off the road because of a deep paint scratch down to bare metal from about half way along the front wing to the rear door, rendering it beyond economic repair - with over half a million miles on the clock each. Neither had been outside the Greater Glasgow area since they were dropped off on the transporter.

dzonga 11mo ago

Tesla has no moat 1. Batteries - BYD has them beat 2. Self Driving tech - other players are better 3. Luxury brands already provide the luxury aspect & even better built cars 4. in the US they're being saved by US protectionism. in Europe etc - we already see the chinese brands making inroads for EV sales

tensor 11mo ago
I mostly agree on all points, but what self driving tech is better? I've periodically looked at the options, and nothing really seems to compare in North America. Maybe BYD and others have great tech, but stuff like Blue Cruise works hardly anywhere in Canada, and to me, that makes it virtually useless.
- amanaplanacanal 11mo ago
  Certainly waymo is better, but you can't buy it. Yet, anyway.
- audunw 11mo ago
  He’s probably thinking of robo taxi self driving. So that would be e.g. Waymo. I don’t think anyone has better self driving for consumers out atm, but you could argue that’s because other companies are not using their customers as beta testers. I’ve seen demos that may indicate Mobileye has tech that’s just as good if not better. But they don’t release it to end users until it’s fully ready. I don’t think Tesla has any special sauce, and that when the tech is actually ready for unattended full self driving in a consumer car, other car makers will come out with solutions around the same Tesla. One difference is maaaybe Tesla will be able to update old cars (probably with a hardware update). While I think others will only support it on new cars.
  - 01100011 11mo ago
    Yeah this. The argument for years has been something like: > Tesla will solve self-driving and everyone will be left unable to compete. Also, AI is advancing rapidly and will solve all kinds of problems for society. But apparently it will not solve self-driving for anyone else but Tesla. I gave up trying to argue with Tesla fans years ago. They are immune to logic which invalidates their priors.

le-mark 11mo ago

Note the Mercedes as taxis in Germany are not the high end luxury car imports we are accustomed to seeing in the US. Mercedes makes a lot of more affordable cars for their domestic market we never see here!