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  1. #1
    Banned Tennis's Avatar
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    Cool Mercedes-Benz to overtake BMW as largest premium carmaker


    Mercedes-Benz is expected to reach its goal of becoming the largest premium carmaker four years early - a feat achieved, ironically, only after it stopped chasing market share and focused on making stylish high-tech cars loved by consumers.

    Introducing an elegant, sporty design and establishing itself as a pioneer in new technologies like autonomous driving has helped revive the Mercedes brand which analysts say will help keep the Stuttgart-based carmaker ahead of the pack.

    The achievement is a coup for Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche, who struggled to revive the company following a messy divorce from mass market brand Chrysler in 2007. Less than four years ago Zetsche faced restive shareholders, worried that the automaker was lagging behind rivals BMW and Volkswagen AG's Audi brand.

    "We had some deficits, cost and quality problems. Design was not top-notch. And with Chrysler we were no longer a pure premium carmaker," Zetsche told Reuters in an interview held late in 2016 in his office at Daimler's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.



    On Sunday, Daimler said it had sold 2.08 million Mercedes-Benz branded passenger cars in 2016, a lead that BMW, which has held the premium sales crown since 2005 and is due to release annual sales figures on Monday, is not expected to beat.

    Including sales of the Smart brand, Daimler sold 2.23 million passenger cars last year, the company said.

    Zetsche has presided over a renaissance in the design and technology of Mercedes vehicles, refocused the company on technological superiority instead of short-term sales goals, and adapted the entrepreneurial mindset of Silicon Valley to the traditionally risk averse culture of Stuttgart.

    Daimler is also preparing for a new era when the auto industry's business model moves beyond manufacturing and selling cars, to lure customers interested in pay-per-minute transport solutions provided by autonomous cars.

    Zetsche set the goal of making Mercedes the best-selling luxury carmaker by 2020 at the company's 125th anniversary in 2011, a year when even Audi sales overtook those of Mercedes, pushing it into third place.

    "Since then we worked hard and today we are leading or among the leaders when it comes to innovation, quality, design and security," Zetsche said.

    Daimler traditionalists were shocked by the volume target, fearing that selling too many vehicles may dilute the exclusivity of their cars and reduce the appeal of the Mercedes brand in the long run.

    But consumer electronics companies like Apple had already proven that the pull of their brand did not suffer with increased volume sales so long as they offered the best customer experience.

    Audi was gaining traction with customers thanks to cool designs, so Zetsche appointed a young designer, Gorden Wagener to head up Mercedes design. He introduced an elegant and sporty style to spruce up Stuttgart's Teutonic limousines. Mercedes cars were also equipped with state-of-the-art digital display technology, luring smartphone savvy customers.

    It was a change for Mercedes where engineers always believed they were producing the best cars in the world, but measured quality mainly using technical or engineering criteria, a strategy which often led to powerful cars with expensive and complex technical innovations.

    Today, Mercedes-Benz follows its motto "the best or nothing" by thinking about whether customers would notice or benefit from a new technological innovation, and by benchmarking the brand against competitors, Zetsche said.

    The company's renaissance began in earnest in May 2013 with the launch of a new flagship S-class. To burnish its credentials as a technology leader, Mercedes developed a prototype version which drove around 100 kilometres (62 miles) autonomously the same year.

    Rather than designing a limousine which appealed mainly to rear seat passengers, the new S-Class featured large digital display screens on the dashboard, a deliberate attempt to appeal to a younger, driver-focused audience.

    The same youthful design approach was used for the new C-Class and E-class designs, which are now the company's volume sellers.

    Mercedes also revived the Maybach brand, a marque targeting the ultra-luxury sector which the company had stopped making after the prior bespoke design failed to gain traction, leading the car to sell only 200 times in its final year of production.

    Since Maybach's latest revival in February 2015, Daimler has sold 15,000 cars. "The rewards we are reaping today are the logical consequence of careful preparation," Zetsche said.

    http://www.thedailystar.net/business...rmaker-1342825

    Ouch. It's pretty close between the 2. It would depend on the model for me.

    Mercedes certainly have top notch interiors though.






    Must be quite the experience being driven around in one of these.

  2. #2
    The Unstoppable Force Puupi's Avatar
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    What does this have to do with immigration and Canada?
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i've said i'd like to have one of those bad dragon dildos shaped like a horse, because the shape is nicer than human.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i was talking about horse cock again, told him to look at your sig.

  3. #3
    I am Murloc!
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    unless you hire somebody to drive you around, it's useless.

    still a brand for old people in my book. BMW would be my choice over MercB every time.

  4. #4
    Merely a Setback breadisfunny's Avatar
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    bmw makes luxury cars. mercedes benz makes racing cars.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by ranzino View Post
    unless you hire somebody to drive you around, it's useless.

    still a brand for old people in my book. BMW would be my choice over MercB every time.
    on that note. bmw's are for yuppies. mercedes benz is the superior option.
    r.i.p. alleria. 1997-2017. blizzard ruined alleria forever. blizz assassinated alleria's character and appearance.
    i will never forgive you for this blizzard.

  5. #5
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    Instead of building cars like that we should help to build up what we ruined in Africa and the middle east. Terrible industry for egoistic and ignorant people who bath in all what went wrong about capitalism.

  6. #6
    Banned Tennis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hiram View Post
    Instead of building cars like that we should help to build up what we ruined in Africa and the middle east. Terrible industry for egoistic and ignorant people who bath in all what went wrong about capitalism.
    Yes I agree with this totally.

  7. #7
    my dad always calls bmw's "the poor man's luxury car."

  8. #8
    Merely a Setback breadisfunny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by darenyon View Post
    my dad always calls bmw's "the poor man's luxury car."
    real winners drive bentley's and ferrari's. bmw's are for wannabe's.
    r.i.p. alleria. 1997-2017. blizzard ruined alleria forever. blizz assassinated alleria's character and appearance.
    i will never forgive you for this blizzard.

  9. #9
    Banned Tennis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by darenyon View Post
    my dad always calls bmw's "the poor man's luxury car."
    Yet many executives have BMWs. He clearly isn't knowledgeable of the luxury cars.

  10. #10
    I have a family member that has an S-classs. The most pretentious piece of shit of ever ridden in.
    I'm the root of all that is evil, yeah, but you can call me cookie.

  11. #11
    Banned Kellhound's Avatar
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    I never was big on M-B, especially after they drove Chrysler into the ground (again), and I just find their cars to be boring overall.

  12. #12
    one day i will own a Benz

    although i havent liked their latest designs

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by breadisfunny View Post
    bmw makes luxury cars. mercedes benz makes racing cars.
    You might be confusing MB with Porsche here.

    Granted, I'd take an AMG GT-S over any current BMW model, no contest.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kyoloco View Post
    one day i will own a Benz

    although i havent liked their latest designs
    We had a C230 Kompressor hatchback for quite a few years. A shredded serpentine belt due to a seized pulley was the one and only time that car had a hiccup outside of normal maintenance. Definitely one of the better vehicles I've owned.

  14. #14
    Mid range bimmers beat the Mercedes equilivant imo, I do however prefere the AMG's to the M line.

  15. #15
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    Well, we currently have some problems selling Volkswagen to america.. but hey..

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by rym View Post
    Well, we currently have some problems selling Volkswagen to america.. but hey..
    "but hey" VW lied and they were powerful enough to make all other companies lie. Not sure if you are actually on the right side tbh.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hiram View Post
    "but hey" VW lied and they were powerful enough to make all other companies lie. Not sure if you are actually on the right side tbh.
    Ah comon, those few extra-CO² ..

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Hiram View Post
    Instead of building cars like that we should help to build up what we ruined in Africa and the middle east. Terrible industry for egoistic and ignorant people who bath in all what went wrong about capitalism.
    Oh get over yourself. Are you serious?? really? Did you just make this a feelbad and anti-capitalist thread?

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by melodramocracy View Post
    You might be confusing MB with Porsche here.

    Granted, I'd take an AMG GT-S over any current BMW model, no contest.

    - - - Updated - - -



    We had a C230 Kompressor hatchback for quite a few years. A shredded serpentine belt due to a seized pulley was the one and only time that car had a hiccup outside of normal maintenance. Definitely one of the better vehicles I've owned.
    Agreed. Sure, MB has its dominating presence in F1 but what they do on the tracks are so far from what they create for the roads. They make straight line machines for the road. //M has always been the standard for luxury sports sedans and coupes for the price though the RS5-7 have been very competitive/better in recent years.

  20. #20
    Stood in the Fire BlackBoss's Avatar
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    I think MB has better branding, maybe better quality. I've looked at them and their style isn't up to par with BMW's. Had to choose between a S550 and a 750li. I went with the latter. BMW is frankly just an ove better looking vehicle. I think people buy MB because of the emphasis on the MB logo.
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