Comments on: Mercedes - a case study on how to squander a great brand

By: Khalid Izzeldin

Khalid Izzeldin — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:17:19 +0000

I was driving a 2006 SLK280 and clocked 17k before driving through a puddle near my apartment and having the engine brake down completely! The same puddle on which i was overtaken by a Toyota Echo since my car suddenly shutdown. Not covered by warranty is what they said. Anyone wants to buy an SLK280 with no engine? I feel that i had flushed my money away on this car. What is the use of the warranty if it does not cover the total engine brake down from normal driving! Their reports that water gone through the air intake damaged the pistons and that they broke smashing the block thus the block is ruined as well. How can this happen with a Mercedes Benz? Where is all that engineering R&D being spent?

By: Wayne Penner

Wayne Penner — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:04:51 +0000

I have an old 1976 240D. Great car. The last problem I had was in 1985 when the water pump went. That is the only problem I have had.

My Mercedes mechanic, an independent not a dealer, who has kept my old car on the road all these years, refuses to work on any Mercedes prior to 2001, stating that “they are not Mercedes any more”.

By: Stephane ETIENNE

Stephane ETIENNE — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 05:25:23 +0000

Here is a new story of a Mercedes’ dissastified customer !!

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fluxurycrm.blogspirit.com%2F&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Stéphane

By: jde@yahoo.com

jde@yahoo.com — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:39:29 +0000

Very interesting. Mike

By: ventureblogalist

ventureblogalist — Thu, 25 May 2006 01:10:40 +0000

wow, sorry to hear. this makes me angry for your behalf. i thought i had it bad with my jeep.

By: Stephane ETIENNE

Stephane ETIENNE — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:52:10 +0000

Very interesting article !

I put a link on it on my french blog relating on luxury and customer relationship management (unfortunately in french !)

http://luxurycrm.blogspirit.com/

May be your story will have a worldwide diffusion…

Stéphane
http://luxurycrm.blogspirit.com/

By: Jack Yan

Jack Yan — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:33:17 +0000

Ole is correct in many respects and there was also a cultural shift. Marketers like us do advocate a market orientation in companies, but Mercedes-Benz is an example of where this went wrong. Daimler-Benz and, later, DaimlerChrysler, placed the emphasis on consumerism but at the expense of quality—if there was a true market orientation, both would be retained.
¶ I advised a friend buying a Mercedes to get an old W124, and they are happy with that purchase. Meanwhile, I have driven some horrible new Mercs, including an SLK with 130 km (as in delivery mileage) which had wind come through the A-pillar when the roof was up and faulty traction control (the warning message was already ﬂashing!). Or a ’99 ML 430 where bits were damaged on the dash and there were huge gaps between panels. Then there was a C180 sedan with a plasticky interior. And so on.
¶ When we focus on the premium brands, we tend to forget that German brands such as Opel do pretty well on quality. I have driven various Vectras for years and even own one, and found them reliable, if a little dull. The Ford Mondeo is well made. You may be better off to get everyday brands like that if you want German quality than the likes of Mercedes-Benz.

By: stevieG

stevieG — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 09:08:08 +0000

My dad is a big Mercedes fan - has an ML as well as a vintage collection. The older ones are overbuilt and very basic by todays standards but his last one doesn’t seem like the same DNA.
My older brother went through 4 different ones. He doesn’t buy them anymore although they were good about fixing the problems when he had them. One of them blew a hole in the engine just miles after the warranty expired. Fortunately, he was less than a mile from the dealership after having regular engine service performed. They replaced the engine n/c.
BTW, Honda and Toyota are American cars and Japanese brands. Built here by Americans. The so-called American cars are American brands mostly assembled outside of the US.
BMW’s are incredibly good cars even if you will have many more problems than Lexus or Acura. It’s the only German car I would consider.

I bought a new RSX Type S for the same amount as the depreciation plus service on by last Audi A6 over 4 years. Audis are another brand where the purchase price is just the starting point of what you will be paying.

By: phuong

phuong — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 05:01:03 +0000

Xin chao, Minh den tu HL, minh mong muon duoc lam quen voi tat ca cac ban. Thanks you

By: Ole Eichhorn

Ole Eichhorn — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 01:17:16 +0000

I wonder if this same experience extends all the way across the product line? I always thought Mercedes was stretching their brand too far down in an effort to get more volume. At one time they sold only high-end cars at high-end prices, and so they had high margins, and could afford to give great service. Once they began moving downstream to lower-end cars at lower prices, the margins fell. And with higher volume and lower margins, they just could not afford to continue to give the same level of service. The consequence is that their brand has suffered, and now people don’t want to buy the high-end cars either because the reputation has been diluted.

I think the thing that Toyota and Nissan and Honda did was really smart - they established separate brands (Lexus, Infinity, and Acura) for their higher-end cars. This enabled them to offer different kinds of service in entirely different dealerships to people at different price points in the market.

Brand extension is a good thing, but too much extension is a really bad thing. You have to tune it carefully.

BTW you don’t want to know but I have a 15-year old Lexus SC400 with 240,000 miles, and it has hardly had anything go wrong with it. And on the rare occasions when it is at the dealer, they treat me really well. There’s a reason they’re always at the top of those surveys…