I would. Because Benz has far more experience with customer success, repairs and supply chain than Tesla. Getting even simple body parts for a Tesla can be an exercise in extreme patience. Benz also knows scale. Tesla -- we don't even know if the company will still exist in 10 years, but a reasonable person would have little doubt that Mercedes will be.
Mercedes has been around almost 100 years. A new powertrain isn't a big deal if the processes are in place.
You don't know if any current auto manufacturer will be in business in 10 years given the shift that is coming.
Tesla is probably crunched on repairs since they have so much unfulfilled demand.
And Mercedes (and VW) has dumped poor reliability cars on the US market for two decades now. The only experience they have is marketing to stupid US buyers.
I think it's pie in the sky thinking to assume the kind of infrastructure change needed to convert enough ICE vehicles to electric vehicles to kill Toyota/Honda/VW/Ford/etc within 10 years worldwide.
Need charging stations built, parking lots ripped up and wires ran, local grids probably need upgrades, not to mention all the kinks to still work out that make owning a corolla/camry type vehicle far cheaper for 90% of people. EV is great for people who can afford to experiment and have a spare car, but people on a budget who need something that works, which is the majority, can't go for that yet.
Yes. There's a reasonably significant cost in stregthening the electricity transmission/distribution networks in particular if EVs ever move beyond the niche. Noone's yet had the argument about who should pay for that to my knowledge and it's quite a political question with no easy answer which will please everyone ("subsidies paid for by poorer people" i.e. non-EV owners and low-mileage EV owners vs "tax the more environmentally-friendly options").
Generation capacity is another issue - less cost than location and if there should be more incentives. Although if we suddenly need to build lots more generation capacity in short order it will put pressure on supply chains and have a cost impact as well which will feed through.
Mercedes has been around almost 100 years. A new powertrain isn't a big deal if the processes are in place.