Then Benjamin gets his hands on the 2024 Mercedes-AMG EQE Sedan, which promises the world, but only delivers under certain scenarios. Be sure to listen to this segment with a checklist to see if you can remember all the things that have to go right before you can access the full power of this speedy EV. Thanks for listening!

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• Like what you hear? Tip us at Ko-Fi — Send a dollar our way using Ko-Fi to help support the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.

The pair then chat about the new 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL Class, and ponder about its journey from flagship roadster to the also-ran status it's heading towards. With all-wheel-drive, rear seats, a soft top, and AMG development, it sounds more and more like a 911 wannabe than a true SL, which was a sought-after classicfor decades.

Then the car talk shifts to another icon, but this time of the late '90s and early 00s: Hummer. Benjamin theorizes that the Hummer nameplate could have survived if other automakers jumped into the same market it was competing in, and describes three 2000s-era concepts that never came to fruition: the Dodge Power Wagon, Ford Equator and the Hummer HX/H4.

Finally, the pair discuss some ugly news coming out of Rivian and tackle the challenges presented by allegations regarding its toxic bro culture.

Links:

• Life Outside the Boys Club: Why I Spoke Up About Rivian’s Toxic Bro Culture (and Got Fired) — Rivian publicly boasts about its culture, so it was a crushing blow when I joined the company and almost immediately experienced a toxic bro culture that marginalizes women and contributes to the company making mistakes. I raised concerns to HR about the gender discrimination from my manager, the “boys club” culture, and the impact it was having on me, my team, and the company. Two days later, my boss fired me.
• Could these ill-fated 2000s concepts have ensured Hummer’s survival? — With big back in style, we started to wonder: How might Hummer have survived the market collapse?
• 4 cars that couldn’t save their doomed brands — Which brands had a secret star backstage that could have staved off bankruptcy and prevented a backslide into oblivion, had executives only stuck it out a bit longer?
• Like what you hear? Tip us at Ko-Fi — Send a dollar our way using Ko-Fi to help support the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.

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• Aston Martin's quiet partnership with Mercedes-AMG offers a glimpse into how small luxury car makers depend on larger ones to survive — It's far more complicated, and more expensive, to manufacture a modern automobile than most of us could ever imagine. This is doubly true for those scratching out an existence at the ultra-luxury margins of the industry, where development costs are rarely ever recouped by volume sales and product decisions have almost zero margin for error should they not connect with the core group of buyers — whose support is key to keeping the lights on.

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• 2019 ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QUADRIFOGLIO: SUV PERFORMANCE SET TO 'OVERKILL' — So it goes that in 2019 it's possible to find a trucklet with as much thrust and nearly the same levels of grip as supercars from a decade or so previous. The expectation that a full-zoot hot rod SUV be able to pivot like a pro, despite its towering center of gravity and typically ponderous weight, has lead to vehicles like the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio—a crossover that stretches brand credibility to the max by way of its family-courting practicality and over the top go-fast feature set. Surprisingly? It kind of works.
• On the Road: 2019 Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S — It might sound strange, but compact high performance SUVs are now so common on dealer lots and in driveways across the country that a natural pecking order has begun to emerge. Gone are the days when a small crossover with big power was an anomaly—we've now reached the point where every major Euro player has folded its sport-utility offerings into their mainstream tuning tier. Just like with sedans and coupes, buyers have multiple flavors of fast to choose from when seeking out their next hatchback-on-stilts for daily duty.