oldshurst442

Well...that is the ONE area where computers excel and humans fail... Although having emotions actually IS a wonderful thing. So...I take that back!

Yeah... Call him on it...as HE does NOT want to play nice. To learn... As I am JUST a humble hotdog vendor and hamburger flipper... HE on the other hand...HE is smarter than I and HE has NO time for me... PHOQUE the Dallas Cowboys!!! Look at what a HUMAN BEING was able to do....THAT is the message...I couldnt care less what the dude's uniform was... All I care is that dude's athletic ability and brain allowed him to do...

I was talking about a certain electrical engineer in one thread about human brains and computers and a certain other poster in another thread trying to insult a Lincoln product with one of Earth's most elegant and graceful animals. .. Im disappoint a tad. If we actually view the human being as a machine, we would see that the human being is quite remarkable. https://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/human-body-make-electricity.htm How our hands are the perfect tool. How hands and fingers bend and grip to hold and throw and touch. Skin having little grooves in them for friction so we could grip. Sensors so we could feel. Sensors so we could know how hard or soft to grab. Our eyes. Two high definition cameras that focus instantly. That process information. Speed, angles, distance, depth, colour. And is directly connected to the brain that uses that information to make us act and react to our environment using our own electric superhighway through our very own wiring that is neatly tucked in our spinal cord and extends to our limbs... When something happens soooo fast that our eyes and brain do not catch, through our 20 000 years of evolution, through our learning experiences, our brain automatically fills in the mis-information, the voids, with past images and memories and compensates and reacts quickly to feed us that information so we dont get this When humans have neurological disorders, this is what happens, though, but on the most part, we good!!! Computers...all they do is just calculate formulas. Formulas that WE program into them. Formulas that WE have deciphered. We let the computers do the math as computers process that math faster than we do. But...all a computer does when it gathers input, it just converts that input into mathematical equations that WE have programmed it for and it does the calculations. Our brains do much much more than that. 1. Our brains do NOT convert the input into mathematical equations of ones and zeros 11010001000011110010010 Our brains just uses the info it gathers and makes decisions on the fly...it makes us act and react. The brain, through instinct, experience, evolution calculates our very own PERSONAL weight, speed athletic ability and makes us perform those athletic abilities. Like a computer does. But the computer just uses the codes WE programmed for it to do. WE, our brains, do that NATURALLY. And our brains calculate for errors on that that very moment. If the computer is NOT programmed to anticipate errors...it crashes... Our brain, our experiences, our instinct, our reflexes, our INTELLIGENCE compensates and self corrects... Computers, if not programmed to do so, will NOT do so... We do not need to be programmed, We do this AUTOMATICALLY and NATURALLY. This may happen...and we crash. Too much info overload But we can self correct quickly... most of the time He stumbled, hit his head in the dirt but was graceful enough to let the slide continue, pulled his hands in a defensive position to an offensive one to be safe at 3rd...and gets up like nothing happened...all in a blink of an eye...

Is it me or there is a complete lack of respect towards Earth's creatures today at Cheers and Gears? I understand that this is an automotive forum meant to celebrate machines and not the National Geographic forum...but still!

Its a shame that you are en electrical engineer... No patience? yeah... Lets call it that... I

No they dont... desktop computers do NOT have limbs and muscles to do anything...unlike humans THIS is how the fastest computer/robot reacts... This is how a human reacts: Computers do NOT have reaction times. They have computing times... We have computing times, plus we have reaction times... Computers are a LONG LONG way before they become robots and their electrical wires are as thin as ours and our as compact and cleanly tucked away into their metal bodies, unlike ours that are nicely placed in and around our skeletons with our muscles. Like I said, the human brain has 20 000 years of evolution behind it and our bodies are a marvel... No human created machine could top what our human brains could perform and how EFFICIENT our human bodies are and together how we act and react in our environment. With a computer, it takes a HUMAN invented code to perform. With humans...20 000 years of evolution is where we are at as of now...and we have FREE THINKING!!! All this to say, all these safety gadgets in our cars, if we too the time to INSTRUCT proper DRIVING skills instead of wasting our energy creating electronic gadgets, we wouldnt have the need for electronic safety gadgets. But then again, the human factor of errors and laziness and lack of attention will always bite us in the ass... But I repeat...NO COMPUTER is FASTER than we are acting and reacting...actual movement...when we travel. There are faster things than us in this world, sharks swimming in the water, cheetahs running in the wild, including F16s that we invented...and there will come a time when those fighter aircraft will be a computer flying it, but not because we cannot process that speed, but because our bodies CANT WITHSTAND THE G FORCES... Make no mistake about it, our brains are fast enough to calculate the speeds and our reflexes WILL be up to the task to accommodate those speeds through evolution, but there is one area where evolution stops. We do have limits. Our bodies our not equipped to withstand those G Forces. Our brains willl be smashed up against our skulls, that is instant concussion. Our internal organs would be thrashing around in our rib cage...but our brain and muscles and our electrical highways of nerves and the like...are definitely up to the task...

That is what I said... And yes it does. Our brain is the one that has deciphered to make codes for this computing power. Besides, our brain ALSO computes in microseconds. When we play sports, you think our brain does not use math and compute this mathematical equation in front of us and makes the necessary adjustments to our muscles and reflexes? Read my examples on my post about sports and then process that info with the examples you gave about the military... Why we do have computers in the military though? Because computers DO compute faster than we do and the calculations that they make are more accurate than what humans could do. At a faster rate, and we WILL make errors in adding things up. Stupid mistakes. So to eliminate the "human" factor, computers control the missiles and the like. But make no mistake about it. We could also make those calculations. If we were in control of those devices since the missiles were invented, late 1940s. That we give us 70 years worth of experience that we humans would be able to compute on the fly. Lots of errors in the process, but in 2019, we would have perfected our formulas to use on the fly... Remember, we used complex computing tools and camera lenses to drop bombs in WW2. It was an approximation of where we wanted those bombs to fall. And because we did not want to fail in the mission, we dropped a shyte load of bombs on the targets, but we hit our targets, and the surrounding areas but we did calculate for wind friction, altitude, velocity, gravity, etc...and what we learned from WW2 went on to the codes the computers use today to calculate how the smart missiles and smart bombs would travel and lock on to their target... Oh....but we are... In certain situations. Like sports...or racing other cars on the same track... We see an an autonomous Audi go around a track faster than a normal driver ever could. True. What we do NOT see however is that the track is PRE-PROGRAMMED in the Audi's computer brain... A VETERAN race car driver, when he KNOWS that track like the back of his hand, is JUST as fast... What we do NOT see is that put that autonomous Audi on that track with OTHER HUMAN driven cars, because us humans have one thing that computers will NEVER have a code for, is that we are UNPREDICTABLE...THAT is ONE of our traits of many that makes us human that separates us from the rest of the animal world... Put that autonomous Audi on a track with other race cars, and that Audi will probably not win...as there are too many factors to compute and that WE have not PROGRAMMED it for...yet pro race car drivers do those mathematical problems every Sunday since the 1940s in NASCAR, or just about 100 years in Daytona... OUR experience is the same as a computer code... A computer code that WE INVENTED... And here it is... And yes it does as a computer will not perform unless its programmed to do so. And if there is an error in code. Failure is the result. When we fail, we also have the capacity to correct the failure almost instantaneously. THAT is how powerful and fast our brain acts and reacts. And we do this because: And finally, you end up acknowledging what Ive said all along...

Um...NO! First of all, a computer...computes. But its because a HUMAN made a program for the computer to compute. So NO! A computer is NOT faster than a human brain. A human brain designed a code for the computer to follow... You may be talking about artificial intelligence. And we are not there yet. People in the A.I. business say we are not far off A.I. They say A.I. will be a thing in the next 20-50 years when computers and robots will be in our lives full with A.I. But I STILL do not think autonomous driving will be a thing by then either. WHY? Because the human brain is a fantastic thing... It took us 20 000 years to get us where we are. Survival of the fittest and natural selection is the darnedest thing. In a normal human, where old age has not deteriorated brain and muscles, where youth may be too foolish and not wise enough...the human eyes, the human brain, the human reflexes, the other human senses, HUMAN INTUITION and HUMAN INSTINCT, HUMAN PERCEPTION and HUMAN EXPERIENCE all work together almost INSTANTANEOUSLY...and then there is our 20 000 year old adrenaline factor when all that that I just mentioned gets to be magnified by 1000%. Something that computers do not do! You could see this at work if you watch sports. If you compare passed Olympic triumphs to now, or incredible sports feats. Such as speed skiing, or moguls, or boxing....or football. When a running back is trying to squeeze through a hole, but two huge guys are blocking his way, then he sees an opening completely on the other side, shifts his body, his weight and then...ZOOM, gets through that tiny opneing that was their for a split second and he is on his way to a touchdown. The way a running back processes that info. All the while trying to receive the football from his QB. Running to the side, front, looking out for holes, looking not to get tackled, pushing away his own teamates and others trying to tackle him. Shifting his weight and his position, all the while remaining on his feet, balancing himself, sprinting all this time. Bouncing off people. Running, jumping, skipping...all this is done with his eyes, his feet, his ears(balance and actually hearing things) and his brain controls all that INSTANTLY!!! Or a quarter back doing the same thing as that running back. Has to make a split second decision on whether to give the football away to his running back, pass it in the air or run with it when he sees a blitz coming to him...and more often than not, the decision made was a good one as the QB does NOT get sacked, but succeeds in getting a good play done. An extreme skier, going down a mountain (no trails), like going down a mountain...with just his gut feeling, his athletic prowess and his ability to make a split second decision, to correct his balance, to correct direction... I could do hockey or baseball analogies too. The thing is, day after day, week after week, year after year, game in and game out, we see athletes do these things... Its remarkable how fast our brain with our muscles react to the situations that happen in front of us right this second and we make a decision right away and our bodies react to that decision without missing a beat...and we keep our balance, while we throw our balance off kilter, our brain makes the necessary adjustments to land the way we wanna land, whether we wanna land on our bum, on our feet, on our hands, and when we do land, we could bounce back and unto the next split second decision we gotta make. And we continue that cycle until our opponent has made his decisions to stop us... When mother nature is concerned. Sometimes mother nature gets the best of us...and we die...but sometimes we beat mother nature...as in the extreme skiing example. What computers may do faster than us, is actually use its computing power to solve an equation, or pump the brakes faster than we can because our leg muscles are not faster than hydraulics...but when split second decisions need to be made, and movement corrrection and reaction need to be made that instant, a trained human being is still faster than ANY computer out there....20 000 years of evolution will do that...

There are a few colours on cars that I actually loathe. Gray. I hate gray cars. Its such a drab, boring, sad colour on a car. Especially if its a gray, rainy (or snowy) day outside, nothing makes me sadder and want to commit suicide than driving a gray car on a gray day. Charcoal. What sorcery colour is that? it aint gray, it aint black. Just buy black for phoque's sake!!! (PS...I bought a charcoal more black than gray Acura TL SH-AWD brand new in 2012) The only thing I hate about the car is the colour. And silver. This whole silver bullet, silver train...silver this and silver that is overdone in my opinion... Silver is such a secondary afterthought as compared to GOLD. GOLD is the gold standard. Silver just tries too hard to be relevant. It thinks it could be just as shiny as gold, but gets really dirty really quick. It thinks it could fool people thinking its valuable or something. MEH. Silver is just...soooooooo not gold. But...looking at your car, it is such a stunning car and a stunning colour for it! I like!!! Nice choice. ? PS: I hate brown coloured cars also. Thank the Lord the 70s is loooooong gone.

Joan Jett for me. Her vocals. But there was one song that Lita Ford got me rockin to. I never liked that ballad she did with Ozzy though. I acnt remeber the title of that song. Anyway...Kiss me deadly

I think its just an opinion piece like every other... EVs could very well be selling because its the "cool" thing to have. The Chevy Bolts are doing quite well in the market place, but not as well as their "cooler" brethren, the Tesla Model 3. Why is that? a) is it because the Model 3 is cooler than the Bolt? or b) is it because the Model 3 is actually easier to live with as its a bigger car/appliance. Notice I said appliance as we really do not know if EVs are considered appliances yet as how Toyota Corollas are perceived or just because the Model 3 as a car and sedan does a better job of hauling than the Bolt does. We already do know that Tesla DOES have that cool factor. We will find out soon enough when all these EVs from these several brands come strolling in and then we will see what the market place says and does. I do know why though, all these manufacturers are building all these EVs. So they dont miss out on the next big thing. So they dont get caught with their pants down. Throughout Detroit History, this is a common theme amongst automakers. They dont want to be the one to lag on a hot market and they want to be first to offer a product in that new hot market because the one that enters that market first is usually the one to get all the recognition and benefits. The Ford Mustang and the Chrysler Minivan come to mind. These two products still reap the benefits of being the first ones . I know of several other models but I currently do not remember which ones and I do not know right now where to start to get info to mention more models. Bummer! I got another, the Corvette. But there have been failures too. Ford, when they heard that Chevrolet might do a midengined Corvette in the 1970s, Ford rushed the Pantera just to be the first one to market a domestic, mass produced midengined car. (Because the GT40 was more of a British entry than it was an American one, and it was only a race car at that with a limited production run) But yeah, I gather its the fear of being left out that is driving this need for EVs more so than the actual market place. I still feel that the switch to EVs will happen sooner than most, because I feel that the want for EVs is there. Its just that the RIGHT TYPE of EV has not been given to the people yet. The Bolt and the Leaf are not exactly prom King and Queen here. And some of their hauling capabilities (interior qualities for hauling) as cars are not exactly ideal... The Golf EV is too expensive within comparison to its gasoline and Diesel brother. And so on and so on.

Homemade apple pie and 2 huge tablespoons full of Nutella (yes, just Nutella on that spoon) for me for dessert just now! And there are several Bond girls that my friends and I would like to have a field day with. More like a roll in the hay rather than a field day... But yeah! Bond girls...

INANIMATE OBJECT funny video though!

Your brother is dead on. Its less ugly all black like that. All black vehicles are all sinister lookin'. This one is no different. Even more so because its ugly. I mean, there are some all black cars that are sinister, mean lookin', but they have a certain scary charm to them. Like Dracula. This thing is Freddy Kruger sinister scary in all black clothes. (I think I like it a little also) I never got past the front end of the 2019 Silverado to tell you the truth. Im afraid to take a peak inside and see what is what. Maybe at the Montreal Auto Show... Oh dang...it finishes tomorrow and Im working. Oh well...

Did you put a bag on its hood while you were driving it? ('cause its sooooo ugly) But then again, all black like that and it becomes a 'butterface'...

That is more for people who change their vehicles often. I always buy new. But you wouldnt be buying my new car as a used one as I tend to keep them longer than what you may deem a good used car to buy. I amortize my new car purchases properly. I usually keep them at least 8 years. Keep in mind that is in Montreal Quebec where deep freeze and snowy winters are a thing. My last car was a 2005 Impala SS and I changed it for a 2012 Acura TL SH-AWD. I kept it only 7 years because I dumb driver ran into my passenger door. I never fixed the door. It was dented a little. And it pissed the phoque out of me looking at my car that way. So I decided to cut that car loose and buy the Acura. I could have fixed her, but in my eyes, she was no longer perfect and I just couldnt keep her. That and I was about to do some major overhauling on her soon. New battery, maybe a new exhaust etc...So I prefered to put that money into a new car instead. But, my Acura is 7 going on 8 years now. I am perfectly fine in owning her still. She has no major battle scars to speak of, couple of paint chips here and there on the hood, but Ive touched them up and she still looks good even with all that salt and sand and gravel they put on our snowy and icy roads. I think I will keep her until she dies on me. I dont think I mind repairing the things I need to repair on her in her older age now just to keep her on the road safely as she still puts a smile on my face as I drive her. That and there is really nothing out there that interests me in owning enough for me to invest in another new car so because I still love my Acura, she gets to stay with me.. So...the 2-3 years of horrendous depreciation does not really apply to me on the Acura...and if I keep her another 7-8 years, which I think the TL could last that long, then depreciation is really not a factor.

Take it easy there old timer. My wife too, has high blood pressure. Its been about 5 months she's been taking pills. Doctors think its hereditary. She thinks its me.

Not really. We get the good stuff. Maybe not the super special one-off Japanese or German sporty stuff, but we get most of it. We did not get the Skylines or the Euro spec only BMW M3 from 1992 or 1993 and other cool stuff, granted. But hey, we got to produce our own cool stuff. The Prowler, The SSr. V8 FWD cars like in Northstar powered Olds, Pontiacs and Caddys and LT1 based 5.3 liter WBody cars. All kinds of pick-up tuck stuff. The Fusion Sport is kinda cool. The Buick Regal GS is kinda cool. The Tesla Model 3 is kinda cool. All Cadillac V Series cars are kinda cool. All the Hemi stuff is kinda cool. Hellcat, Scatpack or even just the regular V8 Charger... The Ford ST and RS stuff is kinda cool. I know we just bashed some of that just now, but those cars are still kinda cool though. Its just that we like to look down on our stuff and over value the foreign stuff... We also produce the good stuff and we consume it in excess. Mustangs, Corvettes, Raptors, V10 Dodge Rams, Chevrolet 454 SS pick-up trucks, Typhoons, Syclones, Scatpack and Hellcat Challengers and Chargers and Trailhawks and off roading Wranglers... There are other good stuff that we just dont consume and let it die off and then we only miss it when its gone... Pontiac G8s, Pontiac GTOs, Pontiac Trans Ams, Cadillac CTS V Wagons, Chevrolet SSs and RWD Chevrolet Impalas and Caprices, and the like.. All V8s you say? Well, there was never anything wrong with a Cavalier Z24, Pontiac Grand Am Quad 4, Olds Calais 442, Beretta GTZ, Cobalt SS, Pontiac Fiero V6, FWD W-Body 3.8liter supercharged cars, per se. OK...some of those engines could have been a tad more gasket problem free... We also think that the grass is greener on the other side and wish we got some forbidden fruit our way, yet, other places, ironically, think that way about our stuff and its our stuff to them that is their forbidden fruit... The Ford Mustang is finally sold all over the world and its selling like there is no tomorrow. Our old skool Cadillacs and muscle cars are being restored and sent over to Europe(Finland, Sweden, Norway) the Middle East, in record numbers...

https://www.slashgear.com/2020-gmc-sierra-heavy-duty-towing-technology-22563148/ Then...No Mercedes either. Since all the brands YOU mentioned wipe the floor with Mercedes... GM is a corporation that has car brands under its umbrella. As does Mercedes Benz...within the 3 pointed star. In NO WAY IN HELL does a CLA, even an AMG CLA, is regarded as luxury...so...STOP MOVING THE GOAL POSTS! Those are all luxury priced brands...and FALSE... According to YOUR OWN criteria...General Motors sells MORE luxury priced vehicles... Its funny, you like to include Mercedes' numbers in sales of cars that are NOT luxury oriented...like I said, an AMG CLA is now way in hell a luxury car. But its priced that way... You cannot CONVENIENTLY add t those sales to the Mercedes company umbrella and CONVENIENTLY omit General Motors' umbrella brands... Nope, it touches 56 000. But its sibling, the Yukon XL Denali goes for 76 000. And if one customizes it...and there are a plenty, it touches 100 000. Because if you want to play the CLA AMG game of it being a luxury sale, then I can play the same game... Well...this is where you get to troll... You want to sell me the idea of selling a ton of products is a definition of luxury, and deny the idea of exclusivity as a true defintion of luxury. PS: There are some countries that do not have drinking water...some countries I say...California seems to fit that criteria. As abundant as drinking water is in Canada,and cheap to obtain, as in free. I get to waste as much as I want in Montreal without NOBODY telling me otherwise. ITS A FREAKING luxury in other parts of the world, this thing we call water... And THAT is where I think YOU do NOT want to admit...but here you are...admitiing it! YES! THAT is the TRUE measuring stick of luxury. Price? CHECK! Exclusivity? CHECK! Badge? CHECK! Notice I omitted your AMG ONE...as its not for sale yet. To boot, its been delayed as its got some teething problems... https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/a23785672/mercedes-amg-project-one-delay-news/ Like I said...for Ferrari, its as easy as making cappuccino. For M-B. They spill that shyte all over the place...

In my humble opinion. To me, all full sized pick-up trucks the last few years are all ugly. Dont matter if Toyota, FoMoCo, Nissan, Chevy, GMC or Dodge. I dont mind a little in your face, testosterone filled machoness in a very masculine oriented market niche, but what we got going on lately is a tad overboard. Hey, this is how I feels about it. In no way do I wanna stop the industry to stop this styling. Because obviously I am very much so in the minority to feel that way. So I could understand if somebody wants to set me straight and call me out of touch with reality and that I dont know what Im talking about. And Im fine with that if someone does say that to me. Its just that...well, this is how I see things how pick-up truck styling has become...in human terms... We are bordering on the ridiculous. Like I said...in my humble opinion.

? I feel for you. That is rough having high fever. You could literally not do anything. Even just tucked into bed is an energy sapping activity. Rest well. Eat well (if you can) and drink lots of liquids. Hope you get better soon!

What constitutes luxury? Because a Sierra Denali that creeps up to the 100 000 dollar price tag has all the electronic gadgetry and pizzazz that a 100 000 dollar Mercedes has... Obviously a Silverado does not get to be 100 000 dollars, but it gets pricey that it costs MORE than the lower level AMG branded Mercedes Benzes. That Silverado that creeps up in price to match lower level Mercedes Benzes has got the SAME amount of luxury features of those lower level AMG branded M-B cars... You put too much into the sales thing...it means nothing for luxury... EXCLUSIVITY is one of THE most important definitions of luxury and price has NOTHING to do with it! Along with that is desire to own that rare object...and while rarity often means high price, again, price has NOTHING to do with it. Value is something else altogether. But we must not confuse all those things... And...JUST because something has a high price tag does NOT mean its of value or its valuable or its worth the asking price...that includes Silverados, certain AMG cars. But if you gonna bring down Silverados, you MUST bring down Mercedes Benz and certain cars they sell at high prices that makes YOU think Mercedes Benz is THE #1 luxury maker. 1. That would only be YOU that says that. 2. Mercedes does NOT outsell the REAL luxury brands. Rolls Royce, Bentley in those REAL high priced luxury niches... In fact, they tried to do so but FAILED with the Maybach a decade ago... Maybach is also a failed brand from the past that M-B tried to resurrect with no success... 3. Ferrari and Lamborghini outsell Mercedes Benz in the 1 000 000 dollar car sweepstakes. Like since the automobile was invented. And Mercedes Benz had several cars in that realm over its course of its history, but Ferrari is Ferrari and million dollar cars for them is like making cappuccino...no big deal...to them, but to you and me, we make a mess out of it. So...we go back to a watered down definition of what constitutes sales and price tags of luxury cars, but even there, Mercedes is not #1 because General Motors sells MORE luxury priced cars than Mercedes does... 1. Mercedes does NOT outsell the REAL luxury cars...Rolls, Bentleys, hell even Ferrari and Lamboghini in those ultra high price tags. Mercedes Benz gets to sell 1 car model every decade in that stratosphere... 2. General Motors has got Mercedes beat in over all luxury priced vehicles... You got nowhere to go with this, SMK...

PS: let it be known that being arrogant and having the space in our countries and money to own and drive huge wasteful behemoths is a luxury in itself. Also, North America aint the only place in the world where such arrogance is present. I want you guys to observe, while there is a Mercedes Benz in that police force, so there is a FORD Mustang too. And THAT is my point, while Mercedes-Benz sells a lot of cars in many many niches and markets all over the world, luxury, especially today, has a different meaning. Badge? Price? Exclusivity? That particular Ford Mustang was not sold outside of North America. Its exclusive to that part of the world...and its just a Ford at the end of the day. Yet, here it is, proudly displayed with exotics... Price? Like I said, GM probably sells more mid level to high level priced cars than everybody else. Is THAT a definition of a #1 maker of luxury cars? Well, technically it is!!! Badge? Does Mercedes Benz really sell the most 100 000 dollar priced cars? But what about Lamborghini and Ferrari which actually sells a ton of 250 000 dollar plus vehicles respectively? Because Mercedes Benz actually does not sell THAT many as compared to Ferrari and Lambo...

You mean, and lets be honest, and there is nothing wrong with it, but you do really mean donkey trails for villages and horse trails for the main roads. The USA for the most part, was really built around the automobile. The North American indigenous peoples just used nature's trails to get around quickly. Which was ingenious in its own right as well. Now, us modern North Americans need that huge grilled, huge 35 000 pound towing capacity to tow our little dinky boats around. Sure! Absolutely! But being all that, is it fair to call M-B the world's best selling luxury maker? Because if we add all of GM's sales of cars/trucks/SUVs over the 50 000 -60 000 dollar "luxury" threshold, I would bet my money on GM being the world's most selling luxury maker.

I cringe every time you say that. Mercedes does sell a lot of cars, yes. But not all their sedans that they sell have that luxury status. In Europe and in North America. What constitutes luxury for you? Badge? Like I said, not all 3 pointed star sales are of the luxury appointment inside and outside the car. Price? Chevrolet, let alone GMC, overall sales outsells Mercedes Benz in the price department just with their top of the line Silverados and Tahoes. Meaning, more high priced Silverados and Tahoes that are MORE expensive than the lower tiered Mercedes cars, including the mid-ranged C and E Class cars are sold in the US and Canada... If you mean only the 100 000 dollar priced cars, then maybe Ill be in agreement with you. But then again, livery service S Classes dont mean anything to me either. Do not forget about GM. Buick seems to be going the all CUV and no sedan route also.