...instead, Chrysler management taught Mercedes how to shave pennies on component purchases and build a car down to a price...
Yeah, not so sure about that part. In the era in which our cars were built, outside of their home market MB was pretty much a luxury vehicle, exclusive to those who could afford it. Limited number of dealerships. I think their basic sedans started at about double what a comparable domestic model was priced at, and their offerings were limited. Today, it seems they want to be everything to everybody, offering everything from tiny Smart cars and A-Class up to OTR tractor trailers. But build to a price, yes. As they expanded their markets and wanted growth at all costs (and not limited to MB of course) they did things like price the C-Class at "under $30,000" with an MSRP of $29,999, and an available lease price of about $499/month. Of course it wasn't really possible to actually find a C-Class at that price, as that would have been the equivalent of a "stripper" which was unheard of. It was a price to just garner foot traffic into the dealerships.
[N.B. For those that want the full, real and complete story of the sordid Mercedes-Chrysler debacle, get yourself a copy of the book
Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler Published in 2001 and authored by Bill Vlasic, a noted journalist for The New York Times, CNBC, The Economic Times, Albany Business Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Business Journals, The Globe and Mail, Mint, Seattle Times, Star Tribune and more. Available used in many places including eBay and Amazon. Spoiler alert for those who may be offended: the book doesn't paint a flattering picture of either the DB Board and Management or Chrysler at the time. The former as rather ruthless, the latter as somewhat clueless. The funny thing is, I was physically right in the middle of the Detroit auto industry at the time, and no employees, no local media and nobody on the street--including the "court of public opinion" thought this would go well. The stupidity of the whole thing was best illustrated one day, when I was at a stoplight near my home, next to some young kid driving a rusty, nasty old Chrysler K-Car. He had ripped off the plastic crystal Pentastar hood ornament and somehow had fastened a three point star from some old Benz in its place. That said it all.]
...will the cars of today...even be repairable when the electronics of today are no longer manufactured?
What, Len? Do you mean in the future? The auto companies
can't even manufacture cars today because they cannot get electronic components. There are ACRES of parking lots scattered around the assembly plants in Michigan where cars and trucks have been partially assembled (well mechanically at least) but they claim to be waiting on chips. Used to be about 6 weeks from car ordering to delivery, now in many cases it's a year. Many orders for some cars simply cancelled. I ordered a hybrid Ford Maverick, and that process was somewhat like trying to get tickets to a Taylor Swift concert in her upcoming tour. The little pickup had long been specified; but not priced. It was on the Ford website, but ordering wasn't possible. When they did open up orders for the 2023MY, they kept the order banks open for less than 48 hours before their production capacity was sold out. That was in September. Production was supposed to have started in late November, but that's anyone's guess. No idea when I'll be scheduled or if they'll simply cancel at some point.
More to your point, many of the electronics in our cars are not just "chips" per se, but specialized chips custom designed and produced. So, when the orders stop, the production stops. Aside from that these are put in assemblies with other chips and components, and once the manufacturer decides to stop that's it. Use the Bosch electronic ignition module for the later Pagodas as an example. When was the last time that was available?
Another good example: pianos. Yes, pianos. Take any good acoustic piano from any number of manufacturers made
in the last 150 (one hundred and fifty) years. They are all completely rebuildable and restorable. Parts readily available. Technicians and restoration shops abound. The operative words are "acoustic pianos". Now remember that distinctive keyboard sound from the 1970s, popularized by groups such as The Doors, Steely Dan, and whoever Billy Preston was playing for? That was an electric piano, a/k/a a Rhodes or Fender-Rhodes. My old college roommate bought one new in 1978. In recent years, it stopped working. Turns out there are a just a very few places that can repair them in the USA any more and parts? Extremely challenging to find, specifically the electronic parts. So, it will be near impossible to get many electronic parts for today's cars in ten years. Fifty? Laughable.
As for quality, I have a friend who is a generalist independent mechanic in the Philadelphia area. He never really said much about today's German cars, but with a worried look on his face a couple of years back said, "Michael, please don't buy a Range Rover or Land Rover...don't EVER buy one of those..." Apparently they are very unreliable, hard and costly to repair.
