Mercedes-Benz Is About to Change Everything (Here's What's Coming)

Doug tells you everything you need to know about the exciting world of Mercedes-Benz in 2026 and beyond. Mercedes is in the beginning stages of a new product offensive which will bring 30 new models to the brand over the next several years. And with creative incentives and programs, the now and future is bright for the brand.

Hosted by Doug Horner, General Sales Manager at Mercedes-Benz of North Olmsted and a rising voice in automotive social media, this new podcast brings a transparent, high-energy perspective to dealership operations, leadership, and digital engagement.

Known online as   @BenzsandBowTies  he has amassed 500K+ followers and 25MM+ viewers monthly across his channels where he often blends humor into content resonating with agents, operators, and customers alike with authenticity and real-world dealership insights. 

"We all are consuming social media all day long every day,” Horner shared in a recent Car Dealership Guy interview. “If everyone is doing this all day long, then that's where we need to be.” 

The Doug Horner Show dives into what drives dealership success today through candid conversations with respected industry leaders, performance coaches and digital creators shaping modern automotive culture. 

About Doug Horner

Doug Horner is General Sales Manager at luxury dealership, Mercedes-Benz North Olmsted, and the creator of @BenzsandBowties, a brand centered on real dealership culture and leadership perspective, and the joy of the work, as an auto industry influencer.

About CallRevu 

CallRevu is the leading communication intelligence platform built for automotive retail—empowering dealerships to take control of every conversation, from the first ring to the final result. Our holistic solution combines an automotive-specific hosted phone system, call monitoring, performance training, and reputation management­–fueled by AI-powered analytics that turn every customer interaction into actional intelligence. Founded in a dealership in 2008, CallRevu was created by the industry, for the industry to drive revenue, improve performance, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. 

Learn more at www.CallRevu.com

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Transcript

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Mercedes-Benz is really dialed in right now. And for me, for a huge fan of the brand, coming up on 16 years now with the brand, I love to see it. We know that it's going to happen at some point. It hasn't been unveiled, but there will be a VLS which will sit above it. So that will be even potentially bigger, even more luxurious. I would expect that that's going to be like the MyBach of minivans. Conquest is getting you from one brand to Mercedes, right? We are conquesting you. We are bringing you over. We're upgrading you from one brand to Mercedes Benz. Although Mercedes is not saying this, I will. The C63 is not being replaced at this time. The C43 is being upgraded to the C53. And that will be the inline six that is currently available in the CLE 53. Uh, I also had an interview with Tyler Hoover, which was a pinch me moment for sure. Tyler being a massive YouTuber, that was a really fun conversation with him. Probably the most starstruck that I've been brought to you by Call Review, the dealership intelligence platform that connects every conversation to performance, from their hosted phone system and AI-powered attendant to real-time analytics, coaching, and reputation insights. Call Review helps you capture every call, understand every interaction, and convert more opportunities. Call Review, where communication meets intelligence. For more information, visit www.callreview.com. And right now, CallReview is offering a free spam call assessment if you mention the code BOTI when connecting with them to learn more. Welcome to a live taping of the Doug Horner Show, everybody. If you're watching this right now, welcome. Thank you for being here. If you're watching it later, this episode is going to be entirely dedicated to talking about Mercedes-Benz in 2026 and beyond all of the things that are happening with the brand, new products, things that have been unveiled, direction of the company. It's a very exciting year for Mercedes Benz because just about every single car that we have is getting either refreshed or completely redesigned for model year 2027 or model year 2028. So just about every nameplate is going to be new in some capacity, all new technology. It's just, it's a very, very exciting year. So thank you everybody for being here. I will take live questions as I go today, but I want to discuss a couple of the things that I'm incredibly excited about. The GLE and the GLS were just completely redesigned. The unveiling happened on the 31st, so just a couple days ago. Big fan of the new exterior and interior styling for the GLE and the GLS. They went with the new super screen that debuted first in the all-new CLA, which we just received our first all-electric CLA at the dealership. And I'm going to get a lot more hands-on time with it tomorrow. But so far, I'm extremely impressed. And in the 40-degree weather we had in Cleveland yesterday with nearly a full charge, the car was showing that over 400 miles of range was possible. So I think that as the weather warms up and as that car gets exercised a little bit, that we could be looking 450 plus for range on that new CLA, which is just absolutely fantastic. The CLA is all new. That is here. The GLB is also going to be all new very soon. And you've seen the new GLB, I love the styling of that new SUV. It has some Range Rover vibes in the back of it with the taillights. I think it looks very, very cool. Looks like the big Range Rover truck back there. In general, I think they've elevated that car a ton. Can't wait to see how it rides, how it drives, what the interior fit and finish is going to be. But we've all seen the upcoming GLC. That is going to be a huge car. And just with the CLA and the GLC, although they are starting as EV-only models, they will not only be EVs. That's just what you're going to see first. And then after that, you'll eventually have plug-in hybrids that will come out. And then the full gas combustion engine options, which is very exciting because these cars have been designed on the new MMA platform, which is designed to be very modular, very adaptable, allowing for different powertrain types. So thank you to everybody who is here today from all over the world, Toronto and everywhere else. This tie is looking a bit miley. I do appreciate that, although it is a little bit miley. I suppose it's been used for a little while, but it is hanging in there just fine. A couple of the other things that are very exciting. The all-new S-Class has been unveiled, and we got a great look at what the S-class is going to be, both that and the MyBach. The interior is going to be phenomenal. The exterior, a new grill, a new illuminated hood ornament, very exciting stuff. You may have noticed that on the GLS, if you watched the unveiling, that it will now, for the first time, have an optional hood ornament. If you don't go with the AMG exterior package, you can go with a hood ornament, which I think is super classy and super cool. We've never had that before. So GLE, GLS, GLB, CLA, all of those are going to be new. The C class will follow in short order that will look at the GLC. You'll know exactly what you're going to get with the C class. These are all very, very exciting things that we've got coming. And then we've already got the E-Class, which was redesigned a couple years ago. That's the only one that isn't going to be touched probably until sometime next year. We've got a new four-door coupe coming from AMG. That's going to be incredible. A new all-electric AMG SUV. I'm hearing that it's going to be kind of Porsche Kayan coupe vibes, which is fine by me. That's a very, very good looking car. What else do we have? We've got the new GT Black Series has been spied out in the wild. If you've seen the Black Series with that massive wing testing at the Nurberg ring, this is going to be an epic car. It's going back after all the records that it broke a few years ago and then lost. 2021 was the last time that we had a Black Series. So that could debut next year. That would be incredible. We've also got the G-class Cabriolet, which we could expect to see sometime in 2028. So that's not that far away. And it looks like details have recently leaked out that it will come in AMG form. So G63 AMG Cabriolet, that's going to be an incredible car, going to be the bane of the existence of any Mercedes-Benz dealer out there, as I'm sure everyone in the world is going to want one. We've also already had an overwhelming number of people reach out on that car. And then the Baby G. Let's not forget about the Baby G is going to be coming out in the next few years as well. And from what we can see in spy shots, it does look like it will be a miniature G-Wagon. So that's going to be a very cool vehicle that will make the G class very accessible in ways that it isn't right now. The G63s are well over$200,000 in most cases. So to have a baby G that I expect would slot somewhere in the 70 to 90 range will be a very nice vehicle to add to the portfolio as well. Thank you to everybody that is tuning in from YouTube and Facebook and TikTok and everywhere else. I do appreciate you being here today. This is the Doug Horner Show. We will edit this down into a little bit more of a concise episode for all of you that are listening, but a lot of very cool things to talk about. Probably the thing that I am most excited about, and this is going to surprise a lot of people, but I have been clamoring for years for this. The new VLE class, an actual luxury minivan that Mercedes Benz is going to bring here to the United States and sell. It looks incredible. It is a proper minivan. It's extremely luxurious. It is tons of different configuration options. It's got kind of a MyBach type exterior. It's got an AMG line exterior. It's got the standard exterior. And then inside, either a seven or an eight passenger configuration. It's got seats that can rotate and face each other. It's got a big cinema display that will drop down from the ceiling. It is going to be absolutely epic. Now it will debut as an EV only, but fear not, hybrid and gas engines will follow. I think that there is a market for an ultra-luxury minivan here in the United States. I think this car is going to sell incredibly well. There have been three consecutive years of increases in minivan sales. I understand that a lot of people don't love them. Obviously, they may not be the best-looking vehicles in the world, but for people who have families, there is nothing that is more utilitarian, more usable than a minivan. They're just they're much more usable than SUVs. Obviously, SUVs look a lot better. And uh so I really think that this is gonna sell incredibly well. Also, I'm sure athletes, celebrities, business people that get driven around are going to love this as well. It's gonna be a great shuttle, a great uh minivan for families. I just think that this car is long overdue. I believe it's gonna sell in massive, massive numbers, even as an EV, but certainly once the gas engine arrives, possibly a year later. This is something that we would expect to see in calendar year 2027 as a 2028 model. And look, I'm on the record right now. I think that that's gonna be a smash hit for Mercedes-Benz. I think the VLE, it looks cool. The interior is amazing. And here's what's even cooler. We know that it's gonna happen at some point. It hasn't been unveiled, but there will be a VLS which will sit above it. So that will be even potentially bigger, even more luxurious. I would expect that that's gonna be like the MyBach of minivans. And look, I'm telling you what, if there's one request that we actually do get pretty frequently, is can you get me a what was a Metris van and upfit it into a luxury shuttle? And now Mercedes-Benz is going to be making that and selling it here in the States. I really think that it's gonna do tremendously well because right now, if you want a super nice minivan, your best option probably is a loaded Toyota Sequoia or a Honda Odyssey. And those are very nice vans, but they're not particularly exciting. They don't look that great. The styling isn't that uh phenomenal. And at the end of the day, they're not luxury cars, although they have gotten very, very nice. So I think that Mercedes is going to compete with no one in this segment. It's gonna be absolutely just it's gonna be dominant, and I can't wait for it. And if you're not already following and watching and listening to the Doug Horner show, I would massively appreciate you doing that. Obviously, it's got its own YouTube channel. Would love for you to follow there. It's been a fantastic journey. And this is the first episode that I've done where I'm not talking to somebody else, but I just have really wanted for a long time now to talk about all of the new and exciting things that are happening with Mercedes-Benz because I love this brand so much. I really do. I've been with it since 2010. And obviously, like any brand, you've got years where there's a lot of new product and everything's very exciting. And then you've got some years where there's not so much new product and it might be a little less exciting. But right now, the number of new vehicles that are coming this year, next year, into the future, it's just incredible. All of our 43 variants are being replaced with 53s. I saw somebody mention the C53. That's going to be a very cool car. Essentially, all of the four-cylinder AMGs are going away and are going to be replaced with inline sixes. Eventually, we should expect to see some 63 variants where we currently don't have them. There are a lot of rumors about the CLE63. Obviously, that that has been one of the most requested vehicles. If I had a dollar for every time I was asked about the CLE 63, that would be a big pile of change. But there's rumors that it might be a very, very limited mythos edition, which is going to be a kind of sub-variant of Mercedes-Benz, a very limited production car, possibly only 30 units in the world. I hope that that is not the only variant of CLE63 that we get. I really, truly hope that that becomes a regular production car in some capacity. If they want to do a mythos variant of it, by all means, we would love to have any numbered car is going to be amazing to have. And I love that Mercedes-Benz is starting to lean into that. Uh BMW Ladd asks, Doug, do you like the new GLS? I really do. I think that the refresh that the GLS got in 2024 was pretty mild. I like that this is now a much bolder looking vehicle. I wasn't in love with the headlights when I first saw them, but now that I've seen the car from more angles and I've seen more pictures, it's starting to grow on me. And I do think that it actually reminds me a lot of the original GL. The GLs of the late 2000s and early 2010s had a very similar looking, larger headlight like that. And I think it actually does make the front end of the vehicle look a lot bolder. I love the new stars and the taillights and the headlights. That's going to be a theme that you see really on all Mercedes Benz moving forward. And I know that some people say, oh, maybe it's too much, but I think that really it's so epic and it's something that only Mercedes Benz can do. I mean, the three-pointed star is iconic, and it why not? Why not show it off? Because it's uh it looks good. It lets everybody know this is what it is. I mean, it's becoming more of a thing to have illuminated fixtures at night so that you can see what it is that's out on the road. And I'm happy for it. We've got illuminated grills now. We've got the stars and the in the taillights and the headlights, and we've even got some illuminated hood ornaments coming. It's all very exciting stuff. And I think that once you see it out on the road, you're gonna love it. Whether you whether or not you like the pictures, that's that's a different thing. So the all-new CLA has landed. Yes, that is uh we just received our first one a few days ago. And let me just talk about this car for a minute because I don't know that everybody understands fully how amazing this vehicle is. First of all, if you look it up online, I have not found any bad press on the new CLA yet. Unanimously, everybody loves it. The range is going to be epic. I'm predicting that on the CLA 250 plus that you might see range approaching 500 miles in warm weather conditions if the car is being driven moderately. That's just my prediction. Mercedes-Benz is not standing behind that number, but based on what I'm seeing, it wouldn't surprise me at all. And that is mega. And these cars, well equipped, have MSRPs in the low$50,000 range, which is amazing. That's a price point that is going directly after the Tesla Model 3. Mercedes-Benz is wants to get a EV out there for the masses. And look, you can say what you want about EV depreciation over the last several years. A lot of that is due to inflated prices on cars and government subsidies on the prices. But now that we don't exist in that world anymore, I think you're going to see much more normal depreciation curves for these EVs. And look, part of the reason that luxury cars seem like they depreciate a lot more is that they're more expensive. So they have further to fall. But when you have a$50,000 price point, you have significantly there's less distance to fall back down to zero, which is why Hondas, Toyotas, and other vehicles like that over the years have always been such great bargains, is that when you start at a lower price point, you have a lot less distance to travel down, right? So this, I think, is going to be a tremendous, tremendous vehicle. I believe that it's going to sell in huge numbers. The technology is incredible. Mercedes Benz has drive pilot coming. There's all kinds of advanced driver assistance that's going to be available that is significantly more advanced than what is in the cars today and more to come later. Understand that a lot of the capabilities that these Mercedes Benzes have from driver assistance technologies uh exist. They're just not here yet in the States for uh legal reasons, really. They're not playing by the same set of rules that Tesla is, which is why you don't necessarily have all of that same type of uh technology. But the the ability is there for sure. So very excited for the new CLA. I encourage you to come and test drive one if you have the ability to do that. I'm gonna get some hands-on time with the vehicle myself tomorrow, now that we've got it fully activated and set up with all the new technology. And uh the Mercedes app is also gonna be free for the lifetime of the vehicle's uh first owner, which is fantastic. So if you buy that car or you lease it, all of the features and technology uh you will have for lifetime. There's there's not gonna be a one-year limit anymore on some of the functionality like you have on some of our cars today. Um, do I expect the VLE to come with a six-figure price tag or a high five figures? I do, Brent, think that it's gonna be a high five figures car. I'm sure that in its highest trims, with every option selected, you could get it into the six figures. I could definitely see that happening. But I do expect that this is going to be maybe a$60,000 to$80,000 van in most configurations, which really doesn't make it even that much more expensive than a loaded Odyssey or Sequoia, right? It's it's amazing how expensive some of those vehicles have gotten. So for any minivan aficionados out there, if you're not familiar with the VLE yet, I do encourage you to look it up. It's going to be such a cool car. The uh Black Series, big news here. I'm sure a lot of you that are uh Mercedes Benz fans or just car fans in general saw the spy shots of the new Black Series testing with the new GT3 car. And I'm very excited about the future of that. I think that that is going to be an absolute track machine. So there's just so many exciting things uh that are coming for Mercedes Benz in the next couple of years. And uh, yes, I mean look, I'm biased, but uh I picked this brand for a reason back in 2010. I've stuck with it for a reason. I believe in it. And it's just right now, it's the very beginning of what will be a very uh exciting few years here, really up until probably 2030 and beyond. It's gonna be more new products than you can even imagine. So yes, absolutely a full review of that Mercedes VLE when the time comes. So, really by the end of this year, we're talking about the new GLE, the new GLS. Now, early into next year is when we would expect to see the GLC, the GLB. I'm not anticipating that we will see those this year. And some other news, I don't have confirmation on this, but I'm reasonably confident that the GLA will be done in the United States. I don't believe that the GLA is going to be renewed for the United States market. There's no information on it, although we've seen just about everything else. And uh it just doesn't seem to be on the product roadmap moving forward. So if you like the GLA, which is the smallest entry-level SUV that we have, I've always affectionately referred to it as the hatchback on stilts. This is probably going to be your last opportunity to get one because it does not appear that there will be further production on that car for the states. And that would make sense to me. I think the GLB is a great entry point to the brand. And then the GLC is a big step up in luxury. Thank you to everybody again who is tuning in today. This is going to be on the Doug Horner Show. And again, if you haven't tuned into the Doug Horner Show, a lot of very interesting interviews on that channel. Uh, please go over and subscribe or follow along on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast. I've interviewed uh George Saliban there, Russ flips whips, Tommy from Delivered. That was a fantastic interview. I've also talked to Billy the car kid. Both of them do uh the same thing. They are car negotiators. I've talked to uh Raul Thomsa on uh of the Vincier. She's another Mercedes-Benz guy, very excited for him. Uh I also had an interview with Tyler Hoover, which was a pinch me moment for sure. Tyler being a massive YouTuber, that was a really fun conversation with him. Probably the most um starstruck that I've been on uh on an interview. Uh Tyler is a very awesome guy. He's very high energy, it was a real pleasure to talk with him. But uh I definitely felt afterwards like I was uh I I felt I sounded like a bit of an idiot, uh, or felt like one anyway. So, but again, really awesome conversations. It's been a pleasure, and I hope that you all tune in. Uh I've been uh blessed to be sponsored by Call Review on uh the Doug Horner Show, a really fantastic company that if you're in the dealership world, I'm sure you're familiar with Call Review. They're they have a fantastic uh phone system and monitoring system. But uh all of the backgrounds that I choose, and I choose a black wall, it's actually dark blue. It is actually a dark blue wall. It's not black, although the lights might make it appear that way. So, what else do we have? Uh we've got I'd love to take some questions. Anyone that has questions specific to upcoming Mercedes-Benz models, now would be a great time. Uh is Mercedes-Benz contributing to infrastructure in the U.S. Uh, they are going to, well, so Mercedes Benz is going to be putting another$4 billion into their plant in Vance, Alabama. They're going to be moving GLC production from overseas here to the states beginning in 2027. That's a big deal because the GLC is now the number one selling nameplate for Mercedes Benz, and most of those sales are happening right here in America. So it makes a lot of sense to build the car here. At that point, that would mean that all of the SUV's Outside of the GLB would be built here in America. And that makes sense. Americans love SUV, so why not build them here? Now I will touch for a moment while we're on this interview that this interview is being conducted. And by interview, I mean this conversation with myself is happening here in early April. And Mercedes released programs yesterday that I thought were extremely creative and exciting. One thing that I'm very excited about in general for this year is the new direction and leadership team. So Adam Chamberlain came back to Mercedes-Benz after some time away with Lithia and Aston Martin and maybe another thing or two in there. But Adam is just an absolute uh dynamo. He's a great communicator, and he's now at the helm of Mercedes-Benz USA, and he has been able to really get uh the relationships with dealers moving in the right direction. And he's had and his team have put together some just fantastic programs to really go after market share again. So for those of you uh that pay attention, and and all of you know this to some degree, but the COVID year has created uh just a mess in general, right, for all manufacturers. Production was slashed, uh, they uh couldn't meet demand. Nobody really knew how to handle a situation like that. And so a lot of people hopped from one brand to another, and now brands are doing their best to get back on track and go back uh and recapture people that had been longtime loyalists to the brands and also welcome new people to the brands. So this month, Mercedes-Benz has a couple of very exciting things going on. So, for one, you've got 24-month lease specials on a lot of pretty much all of the core models except for S Class and GLS. And what that means is that with a special money factor that is not in line with the money factor on any other lease term, you are able to achieve either the same or even lower payments on a 24-month lease than you could on a three-year lease. Now, for those of you that are familiar with leasing, generally speaking, the shorter the term is on the lease, the higher the payment, the longer the term, the lower the payment. That's pretty in line with how it works on a finance, where the longer you take out the term, the lower the payment would be. So it's very unusual that you would be able to do a two-year lease for less money than a three-year lease. And the reason for this is that, again, you're trying to handle more depreciation in a shorter period of time, which is what equals that higher payment. So the fact that Mercedes is incentivizing a two-year lease is exciting because for people who like to get in and out of cars more frequently, which is the majority of Americans, and let me clarify, the majority does not mean everyone. It just means more people than not prefer to get in and out of cars in three years or less. That's just what the data tells us, okay? So, yes, there are people that keep their cars for a very long time. That is a small number of people. They tend to be the loudest people on the internet, the people that keep their cars for a very long time. And I can appreciate that, but that is not what most people do. Most people are in and out of cars every two or three years. And so for those people, uh an incentivized two-year lease is going to be very, very exciting. So you've got that. Additionally, Conquest is back. What is Conquest? Well, Conquest is getting you from one brand to Mercedes, right? We are conquesting you, we are bringing you over, we're upgrading you from one brand to Mercedes-Benz. Now, these are going to be limited, right? They're going to be allocated to each store based on historical performance. So I don't know how many we will have yet. In the past, Conquest was only available to drivers of competitive luxury brands. But for this month in April, if you have any other car that is 2020 or newer, any other car that makes you eligible to get a$2,000 upgrade or Conquest bonus going into a Mercedes-Benz. So that is a lot of money. That is two grand just for owning another car. The only thing is that it must, the the new Mercedes that you buy, the registration must match the registration of the other car that you have. And no, you do not need to trade it in. And another fun fact, it can be a household vehicle. So if somebody in your household, and by household we mean matching registration address, has another vehicle, then you can use the Conquest incentive for yourself. So for example, if your spouse drove a BMW and you had, you know, a Mercedes, their BMW would qualify you for an upgrade incentive. Okay, so that's really, really exciting. And that's on top of just a lot of the other really great programs that we have in general. So again, affordability has been an issue for every manufacturer. This is not isolated to Mercedes-Benz, but cars have just gotten very expensive across the board. And it's been an expensive couple of years. It really has. So most manufacturers are getting with the program. Mercedes-Benz certainly has, and things are getting much more affordable by way of very creative incentives, excellent leasing programs, and even excellent financing rates, which is something that historically Mercedes-Benz has usually been very heavy leasing and not paying too much of attention to the financing rates, but now they've got both, which is really phenomenal. So assuming that you're not looking at a G-Wagon, there's going to be an incentive for you somewhere in there. So this is very, very exciting. It gives us as dealers a lot of very fun things to talk about with our potential consumers. I do want to point out, again, that for those of you that have negative equity situations that you're trying to undo these incentivized two-year leases, will make a very nice option to really get out of that hole in as little time as possible. Okay. Now remember that the shorter the term, the more of an effect negative equity will ultimately have. So the general rule of thumb is that every$1,000 of negative equity that you have on a three-year lease will have about a$30 impact on a payment. So for example,$10,000 in negative equity would have about a$300 per month impact on a three-year lease. So if a car was leasing for$600 straight up, and you had$10,000 in negative equity, you would now expect the resulting payment to be$900. On a two-year lease, that is more like$45 per$1,000. So now$10,000 in negative would have about a$450 effect. However, I've seen people that we just really want to get out of this hole in as little time as possible. And using loyalty accelerator programs that Mercedes-Benz has. You can really even look at a two-year lease more like a one and three-four-sear lease. And yeah, that's a really great way to undo a negative equity situation if you can tolerate a little bit of a higher payment for a short time to kind of undo maybe a vehicle that you bought that you hate, or maybe it's getting older and it's breaking down and you just don't want to deal with it anymore. There's all kinds of reasons that we see. But April of 2026, Mercedes-Benz USA is coming out swinging with absolutely fantastic programs for leasing or financing. So Ryan asks, can we expect the C43 to bring back a V6? And the answer is yes, the C43 is going away. It will be replaced by the C53. I know that the internet is generally saying that the C63 is going away to be replaced by the C53. And that is correct. The C63 is going away. But to be clear, although Mercedes is not saying this, I will. The C63 is not being replaced at this time. The C43 is being upgraded to the C53. And that will be the inline six that is currently available in the CLE 53. So if you've seen the CLE 53, driven the CLE 53, heard the CLE 53, and you're a four-door buyer who wants a C-class, you should be very excited because the C53 and also the GLC53 are going to be restyled and re-engined. Very, very exciting. So it will be a turbo inline six. Very exciting engine. And yes, so Drew, just about any of you, everybody is available for Conquest now because if you have another car, you qualify. Okay. If it's 2020 or newer, active registration is required to qualify. Now I can't stress this enough. These incentives are allocated by Mercedes-Benz to each store based on historical performances. So some stores will only have a few, some will have a lot, but they are while supplies last. They are numbered incentives. They are not an unlimited number. So let's just say hypothetically, I was going to sell 100 cars in a month and I was given 20 conquest incentives, then there's only 20 people that would be eligible for that. So if that's something that you want to take advantage of, the sooner the better. Because at least for us so far this year, when we've had those conquest programs, uh, we are always out of them by the end of the month. And they were a lot more restrictive then because it was only competitive luxury vehicles. But now that everyone qualifies, I expect that these are going to fly off the shelves. Absolutely. So again, you are tuned in to the Doug Horner Show presented by Call Review, and I am so happy to have you all here today. This is a live version of the Doug Horner Show, and we're talking about Mercedes-Benz in 2026 and beyond. Mercedes has done a course correction on their strategy of being all electric by 2030. They are bringing back V8 engines, they are bringing back six-cylinder engines in replacement of four cylinders. They are bringing more plug-in hybrids, they are bringing new EVs that will be redesigned to look just like their gas counterpart cars. So the styling of the EQs, which was specific only to EQs, is going away. The brand is rocking and rolling right now. And I give them all the credit for listening to consumers, listening to their fans and their clients and their customers, and understanding that we need to make a change. Obviously, a lot of the decisions that were made were essentially forced by governments of the world with restrictions on emissions and engine sizes, et cetera, but very exciting stuff. So all kinds of new plug-in hybrids coming as well. It's going to be a huge year for Mercedes-Benz this year and next. We've got an all-new AMG GT four-door coupe coming. I mentioned that before. There's an all-new AMG electric SUV coming. It's going to be just a product onslaught. Absolutely, it's going to be a product onslaught. And I'm excited to see some of the specialty cars that Mercedes Benz has planned. Now, the last thing I want to cover today is the manufacture program because Mercedes Benz is leaning hard into the manufacture program, which is the customization arm of Mercedes Benz. This is what is allowing for just a massive number of paints and interiors available on many of our models and more to come. Many of you might have seen the lime green interior that I posted on an S-Class that we just recently received. That is part of the manufacturer interior. It is bright, it is loud, it is fun, it is unique. It might be the only S-class with a lime green interior in the country right now. And people that can afford to buy Mercedes Benzes, in many cases, have the ability to spend extra to get a level of customization to make something bespoke and truly unique to them that nobody else is going to have. And the manufacture program is really stepping up in a big way. Not only do many of our models now have over 40 paints that you can choose from, but there is a very robust paint-to-sample program. We have already done some very cool paints, and we have many more coming. We've done some G-Wagons in Porsche colors. So if you're the kind of person that says, you know, I really love this paint lineup, but I want to do my favorite paint from Bentley or Rolls-Royce or Porsche or Audi or BMW, there's a good chance that Mercedes-Benz manufacture team can make that happen for you. And that is what these ultra-luxury buyers want. They want to be able to make it their own and get a bespoke vehicle. It's incredibly cool. The possibilities and the things that they've already made available and then what they can do by testing and then recreating is truly amazing. So I can't wait to see where the manufacture program goes from here and how many more models it will expand to in the future. But right now, uh the higher-end models, S-Class and G-Wagon GTs, this is where the primary bulk of that work is going. But the manufacture program is going to be truly amazing. Very similar to what Porsche has done with their paint to sample program and their exclusive builds. It's just incredibly, incredibly cool. So we've got the manufacture program. We've got a lot of very limited production cars that will be coming in the near future. Collaborations like the one that they just did with LeBron James on his special MyBox. Mercedes-Benz is really dialed in right now. And for me, for a huge fan of the brand, coming up on 16 years now with the brand, I love to see it because it's fun. It's fun. I mean, I really don't think there's a better brand in the world for many reasons. I mean, they're the inventor of the automobile. Their technology is always ahead of the curve. Their styling language is fantastic. And they have something for everyone. I mean, Mercedes's been the model lineup is almost overwhelming how many choices that we truly, really have. So thank you all for tuning in today. This is going to be a big year for Mercedes. If you're a fan of the brand, if you're new to the brand, if you were previously with the brand, now's a good time to come back. Now's a good time to give it a try for the first time. And I will say this Mercedes-Benz is much more attainable than you probably think it is. Whether you're somebody who buys their cars and keeps them for a long time, the new cars are fantastic. The certified pre-owned program and its unlimited mileage warranty is best in class. Or if you're the kind of person that wants to get something new every two to three years, the Mercedes Benz leasing program is fantastic, even if you drive high miles. In fact, high mileage drivers, you absolutely should be leasing. Don't throw money away on a car that you buy and depreciate super quickly because you own it. This is the most exciting brand in the world. This is going to be one of the biggest years for the brand. And then from now until 2030, if you like new and exciting, stay tuned. My name is Doug Horner. This has been the Doug Horner Show. I appreciate you all being here on this live episode. And please, if you're not following already, go to Doug Horner Show on YouTube or follow along on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Can't wait to see you all next time.