EV Buyer Opts For Lucid Air After Mercedes Dealer Adds $50,000 Markup To EQS

Dealerships are going to cost automakers EV customers if they keep this up. I’ve shared a couple of horror stories that Ford customers have shared with us while also sharing what a Ford salesman thought of some of the horror stories. However, Ford isn’t alone with this problem. Any automaker that utilizes the dealership model has these problems.

Dealers need to make their money, and usually, that is at the expense of the customer. This is why the direct sales model is a threat to the dealer industry and why many have fought so hard against Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid from selling directly to their customers.

InsideEVs has shared the story of Jon Rettinger, who wanted to buy a Mercedes EQS 580. He reserved one and it was ready to pick up. However, the dealer informed him that there was an additional $50,000 markup on the car. So much for “consumer protection.” This led Rettinger to opt for a Lucid Air instead.

The Mercedes EQS 580 starts at $119,110, so to add an additional $50,000 to the price not only shows that Mercedes has no desire to actually sell EVs, but it hands over customers to the competition. Lucid, which currently focuses on the luxury market, will probably land more customers in this fashion as dealerships try to take advantage of customers. Rettinger added that he wasn’t singling out Mercedes-Benz USA, but calling out the fact that almost all brands have these markups. He tweeted that the system is broken.

He sent an email to Mercedes-Benz USA corporate and informed him what their dealers were up to. There response?

“There’s not much we from the Corporate side can do here. Pricing is completely up to the dealer. We are not legally allowed to intervene.”

That wasn’t the full statement, which can be viewed in the screenshot Rettinger shared.

Some Thoughts

Naturally, I have thoughts. I think that Rettinger did the right thing going with Lucid. As more customers begin to realize that they don’t have to be screwed over by greedy dealerships, they will start opting for EVs such as those from Tesla, Lucid, Rivian, and others. They will opt to buy directly, and even if a state law requires you to either have it shipped via third party, that will be a lot more economical than paying an additional $50,000 markup.