[Sreesh1009]

A Russian Youtuber burnt down his Mercedes out of frustration after several break downs
Here's the link to the article:
https://www-ndtv-com.cdn.ampproject....ration-2316898


I find it extremely disturbing to see people burning down assets like these. I understand it won't matter much to him but it doesn't seem like the best thing to do.
Apparently Mercedes stopped answering his calls after it broke down even after part replacements recently.

[libranof1987]

What is with the Mercedes AMG series getting destroyed in Russia?! Here's a case of a G63 being dropped from a helicopter.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...elicopter.html (Frustrated owner drops his Mercedes AMG G63 from a helicopter)

[V.Narayan]

Dramatic - Yes. Spoilt - Yes. Purchased Merc with his own earnings - No. Certainly a rich Papa Bear involved here. But it is another reminder that Mercedes's legendary reputation for reliability is a memory from the 1990s and before. Alas, probably not any longer. Reputation for poor reliability, availability of spares and A.S.S. is the reason I consciously chose not to buy a Merc.

It would be interesting to hear Merc's side of the story. There is always another side. There must be a reason why they stopped answering his calls -profanity, mafia threats?

[Sreesh1009]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Dramatic - Yes. Spoilt - Yes. Purchased Merc with his own earnings - No. Certainly a rich Papa Bear involved here. But it is another reminder that Mercedes's legendary reputation for reliability is a memory from the 1990s and before. Alas, probably not any longer. Reputation for poor reliability, availability of spares and A.S.S. is the reason I consciously chose not to buy a Merc.

It would be interesting to hear Merc's side of the story. There is always another side. There must be a reason why they stopped answering his calls -profanity, mafia threats?

I completely agree with you on this. Someone who has earned the money and put in the hardwork would never do something like this.

But here's another point of view. The guy has a YouTube channel with 50 lakh subscribers, I'm guessing he's earning quite a bit from it.Each video of his has a range of 30 lakh to 3 crore views, according to me, he probably bought the car by himself and doesn't really care about the money lost because he'll gain it all back through two or three clickbait videos.
The video itself has about 3.3 crore views.

Waiting to see what Mercedes has to say about this.

[Engine_Roars]

I read somewhere that views that he had on this particular video would provide enough earning for him to buy a new car. Not sure how true is that but I would like to believe it is partly true.

It really hurt to watch the vehicle burning, how I would give away almost anything to own anything half as beautiful as that car.

[AZT]

If he's a Youtuber this could just be a stunt to increase subscriber count / get views. These investments pay back long term, if anyone's interested there's a Youtuber Mr. Beast who throws away money in every video - fun to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSKJKLmAqpI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoZri9hq7z4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE5AHE2Ypr8

[Raghu M]

Could be a publicity stunt but I think it's his hard earned money. Let's not judge that he might be super rich or some kind. He might have done it for a reason. Read in the article that in spite of repeated visits to the workshop, the problems were not fixed. The article clearly states that his car spent 40 days in the garage. I seriously think Merc has equal responsibility in what he did. Yes, his popularity would have tempted him to take things to the virtual world and damage Merc's reputation but no one would do that purely for publicity (there are way many things that this guy can come up with).

Merc needs to come up with an explanation. From what we read on the forum - people pulling their expensive cars with bullocks and some even ripping them apart, I would not be surprised if this guy's narrative is true. The brand may be big, but no brand has managed to put smiles on all of their customers faces.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Dramatic - Yes. Spoilt - Yes. Purchased Merc with his own earnings - No. Certainly a rich Papa Bear involved here.

Not every young sports car driver is living off papa bear, this guy probably makes more than his papa and funds him too.

Times have changed, these car vloggers make some serious money and all their purchases are from their earnings. Check out youtube pages of DDE,Stradman, Autovlog etc. Their car collections are insane and all from legit vlog earnings.

Originally Posted by Raghu M

Could be a publicity stunt but I think it's his hard earned money. Let's not judge that he might be super rich or some kind. He might have done it for a reason.

[Sen]

When you pay top dollar for a car, you expect priority assistance. These are not mass-market cars, these are exclusive ownership experiences. We obviously don't know the Youtuber's side of the story or even Merc's for that matter, but this youtuber must've gone to quite some lengths before straight up throwing it into the fire.

In no way do I vouch for either side or for the method in which this played out, but a car like that being relegated to being a showpiece must've hurt him enough to do this.

Guess we'll never know. Burning possessions like this is never a good idea though.

[turbowhistle]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Dramatic - Yes. Spoilt - Yes. Purchased Merc with his own earnings - No. Certainly a rich Papa Bear involved here.

Let’s not jump the gun sir, I have seen enough young people buying their own sports cars/toys. There’s a ton of money to be made in many professions from an early age these days and we still have some passionate people in this generation.

Originally Posted by Sahil

Not every young sports car driver is living off papa bear, this guy probably makes more than his papa and funds him too.

Times have changed, these car vloggers make some serious money and all their purchases are from their earnings. Check out Youtube pages of DDE,Stradman, Autovlog etc. Their car collections are insane and all from legit vlog earnings.

Check out Goonzquad as well with the list Sahil gave, those guys legit bought a Ferrari, Huracan, Dodge Viper, Mustang along with several trucks and a 50 acre property just by YouTube earnings only in last two years. They also gifted their trucker dad a nice truck.

[Cyborg]

Each persons value for 100, 1000 or 10,000 bucks and so forth will be different according to his/her standing in life.

His car, his money and his choice, why bother

Cheers

[VijayAnand1]

Well, the calmness and peace on his face maybe was worth it after all. We stick placards on the vehicle to express our displeasure, Russians do it Russian way.

Cheers!
VJ

[revindran]

Not sure about the story behind the scenes. But there are two factors definitely here though:
1) the car is premium top dollar car
2) the guy is a celebrity (like it or hate it: youtube stars are nowadays are nothing short of movie star celebrities)

Taking the both of the above into account, the car definitely needed premium servicing treatment. Be it a customer's fault for the issues with the car, the manufacturer definitely is on the hook when dealing with their pricey product and celebrity customers and do not have much room for mediocrity.

Also, seems like a good way to protest according to me.

[AJ18]

Whatever the motivation behind this act is, watching a GT63 4 door in that beautiful shade with mono blocks burning was not a nice sight. I hope Mercedes sorts this problem out to prevent such actions in the future.

[SnS_12]

Reminded me of the Chinese Businessman who hired construction workers to destroy his Gallardo.

Don’t know if his decision back in 2011 actually helped Lamborghini to sell more cars as China is the second largest market after US