No matter what happens here in the United States, Europe is still worried about this whole “habitable planet” thing – at least a little bit. Sure, Germany and its car manufacturing economy may resist the concept of breathable air, but it seems even these laggards are environmentalists in other ways. Take Mercedes, for example, which has some new plans to make its cars a little less wasteful: make subassemblies more repairable rather than replaceable, and build cars from materials salvaged from other older cars.
Mercedes has a new effort called ‘Tomorrow XX’, which aims to make its cars a little friendlier to this pale blue dot we all share. However, one of the proposals within that initiative is more than just a step for the environmental movement: it is a victory for enthusiasts, tuners and right-to-repair fans around the world. Instead of non-repairable, glued-together headlights, Mercedes wants to return to mounting fixtures with screws so that individual components can be repaired or replaced.
More than just environmental problems
It’s also a smart business decision. Lithium is in short supply, rare earth magnets are subject to the vagaries of international trade and copper prices are among the highest ever. If Mercedes can start replacing the more disposable, external components of sub-assemblies like headlights without touching the expensive internal parts, the company can produce more of the former and less of the latter. Replacing the cheap stuff instead of the expensive stuff is a nice cost-saving move. And if the car manufacturer gradually gets good press for its environmental ambitions, what’s wrong with that?
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