cdiken

We now all know about de-contenting of features, slipping quality, and comments about poor customer relations.

SO,

Is Mercedes USA

a) Commiting business Suicide?
b) Being killed by Chrysler...Homicide?
c) No actually dying, just unreversable brain death/damage?

ruykava

wtf? why are all of them negative? realised that mercedes' latest models, from W211 E onwards, are getting positive reviews for their quality? OK, so maybe MBUSA is a different story, but here at least i'm not seeing anyone settling for anything less than an MB

nasdaqsam

Why would MBUSA slip due to Chrysler? It's been stated on the forums here a few times that MB bought Daimler Chrysler not the other way around.

Mb Bought them and then put them in charge? That makes no sense.

Trying to understand...please explain.

DWP

MBUSA isn't an independent entity. It's an operating unit of DaimlerChrysler. MBUSA isn't being killed by "Chrysler." The merger of Chrysler Corporation and Daimler-Benz AG was called a merger of equals but, as Orwell said, some animals are more equal than others. When Stuttgart tells Michigan to "jump", the response is "how high?" - although they do get to ask in English. To put it another way: "How do you pronounce 'Daimler-Chrysler'"? "Daimler - the 'Chrysler' is silent."

The Mercedes brand has some troubles at the moment but DaimlerChrysler as a whole is strong, largely because of the current strength of its North American brands. The reverse was true just a few years ago. This too shall pass. Courage.

CASL55

I thought when the companies merged that they combined the names of the two by taking the "Daim" from Daimler, and the "ler" from Chrysler.

Jim

Barry45RPM

1st of all, the 2 companies never merged. Daimler BOUGHT Chrysler outright, lock stock & barrel. That's why Chrysler's stockholders are in court with Daimler. They were told this was going to be a Merger. It wasn't. The price they were paid for their stock was based on a merger. The price would have been different if it were an outright sale. Previously, it was known as Daimler-Benz. ...and Chrysler Corporation.

Chrysler was purchased by Daimler, and then Daimler began infusing cash and talent into the company because all of Chryslers stuff was old, and had run its course. People feel that because so much money was thrown at Chrysler to develop new products & keep it afloat that Mercedes would survive on its reputation while Daimlers attention was concentrated on Chrysler.

I personally am not sure whether MBUSA is owned outright by Daimler, or is simply a company that was formed years ago by American businessmen, to become the single authorized (franchised) distributor of all the MB cars sold in America. Since MBUSA is such a BIG customer of Daimler's they are entitled to have versions of the product made to sell in this market configured exactly the way THEY want them like nowhere else in the world unless those exclusive importers in other countries want them that way too. (Much the same way Sears goes to Whirlpool Corp, selects a particular model of washing machine, deletes a lot of the bells and whistles, adds a few others & sells them as "Kenmore" washing machines. Whirlpool will do the ame for any huge retailer & configure a model a certain way, and it will only be available that way at that retailers stores. Cars, their options and variations are selected by the needs of that country's drivers, the ability of the country's techs to repair them, and to keep the number of sku's as small as possible while making the customer feel as if his car is unique.

It wasn't that long ago that American manufacturers let the buying public choose each option on his car as a stand alone option, while those offshore manufacturers had to bundle the most requested options together as packages, because they COULDNT handle world wide sales & distribution with that many variations of build. American manufacturers saw that the bundling worked & adopted it too. The constant shuffling of option groups comes from market research about what the American buyer wants, versus what he will actually use in a car, versus how much cost it adds to the car due to different countries currency conversions, versus how will the technicians be able to repair the stuff. The problem is MB does too much of its own subassembly design & manufacturing, and truth be told, they build a hell of an automobile, but their electronics are obtuse, poorly thought out, needlessly complicated, and porrly executed when compared to the rest of the car, and what the Japanese are coming up with. They need to swallow their pride, go to Japan hire some Japanese and American engineers, bring them to the Motherland, swallow their pride, and learn from people who do some of the electronic things better than the Germans can. I'm sure you can make toast in a 2.5 million dollar blast furnace too, but all you need is a $10 dollar toaster that works 1st time, every time.

HELL ONA HARLEY

So..... I'm assuming your O.K with the way things are since you bought your "decontented" MB anyway, dipite being unhappy????

I personally could'nt be happier with my ride and would recommend the "E" to anyone who would care to listen....I would love to take part in you poll, but A,B or C does not pertain to my way of thinking.... sorry.

SAguirre

I think that I have the answer to your question. CDIKen is a "half empty" kind of guy. You should see how opinionated and negative his comments are about big cities like New York. I am not even a New Yorker, but I thought they were off base. I don’t think that he put any positive options on the survey because no one could possibly have views different than his.

Hell on a Harley's post puts it in real perspective. (BTW, H. on a H., can you please send me an e-mail so I can send you some humor that you might appreciate)

Steve

cdiken

I'm a 3/4 empty kind of guy.

Get it straight.

plocjim

Like many companies, I think they've made some mistakes...but certainly not anything fatal. I love my car and will probably get an E350 by Summer/Fall. Can't imagine driving anything but a Mercedes. So my vote is..

 Sure they made a couple of mistakes, but I love them anyway and will help them recover, both with constructive feedback and by purchasing another Mercedes

PUZZ1

I think the issues that MB has with de-contenting, customer service, etc. are reversible while the direction that BMW has gone into with design are not reversible.

benzboy