This is one of the best, most well-written opinion pieces I've read among the car publication circles in quite some time. Take a bit to read this-

Build the Brand, Burn the Brand 

and let me know what your thoughts are on the matter. 

 

 

I think it almost perfectly sums up my stance. I've said it time and again with regards to BMW, Mercedes, and the like. When you build and sell so many cars, your product inevitably begins to lose it's cachet and exclusivity that make people desire it in the first place.

Interesting and so true, I think MB and BMW will be looked at as just another Chevy, Ford or Toyota in the next 5-10 years. They have screwed up their profit center in the attempt to sell everyone at every price point and forgot that they were an uber luxury line of auto's.

I think the current automotive scape- in terms of overall design, power plant, etc- will be greatly different in the next 10 years, for sure. So I don't think it's necessarily that dire, but I definitely feel they are diminishing their brand image lowering their value. When you're building $32k stripper models to get people in $300 a month leases in order to have as many of your badges roaming the streets as possible, you are traversing a slippery slope with regards to being a 'luxury' brand. Your product can only become so commonplace before people have no aspirations to own it any longer.

Certainly dovetails nicely with my claim elsewhere that we are headed to a world where the Chinese own automotive production.