Mercedes-Benz closed 2025 on €32.2 billion of net industrial liquidity and borrows at investment-grade rates. The claimant ecosystem that just lost to it pays 10% to 30%-plus for capital — sometimes far more. That asymmetry doesn't decide legal questions; it decides how long each side can afford to fight. From Pan-NOx to the FCA's £7.5 billion motor finance redress scheme, via the collapse of a £250 million funder, this is the arithmetic behind the war of attrition.