Arrie

In Germany almost all private cars are de-badged. You normally see engine or other designation only on rental cars and if you have an AMG or equivalent, when people behind know not to race it.

RJC

They also like puke metallic green paint and plaid interiors over there. In europe mb, bmw etc offer even lower end models than here so people luv to debadge. Yes there are some whom remove their Turbo/S and AMG badges but its pretty hard not to spot an AMG car or a Turbo vs their lower tiered brethren. C'est la vie.

W212's are also used as taxis, those are not debadged because there's no need to try and a, cough, impress anyone...

golfster

Anyone who buys any car to impress someone else likely has inferiority concerns that go beyond badging.

RJC

Expensive, cars, homes, jewelry, boats, designer things etc are unfortunately not only used, but viewed as status symbols everyday round the world; a big reason for knock off's, debadging, over spending one's budget ie excessive personal debt etc. Sad but true...

hyperion667

one status symbol used to be eating meat!
then again we do live in a country where we spend BILLIONS on our animals......while other countries just eat 'em.....haha...
lol, you're right......it's all about what others see and percieve, hehe.....

kind of like 14K break jobs! LOL

wmoor004

14K break Job = I buy a Moped!

hyperion667

haha, I'd love to ride one, just to try it.......have never had a chance to ride a Moped....I always smile when I see one.....

Ctrl+alt+Elite

indeed

Ctrl+alt+Elite

try it falling down drunk... WOW... I have bad friends

samkimg

... and I've seen debadged Honda's, Acura's and the like ... but you STILL know what they are.

K-A

Just an fyi. I'm in Europe right now, and almost every Benz I see is de-badged. Even CLS's, S's, E's, etc. Bimmers are, I've even seen Porsche's de-badged. That goes to show that it ain't just an American thing. I do wonder if the common European does it for different reasons than the common American would, though....

RJC

There's lots of lower end models there that are not even available here...

lfranklin

I went to grad school in England, and most cars are debadged as mentioned before. Plastic letters/numbers stuck on the paint are not favored. in fact, a MBenz is not considered prestigious. It could be because there are Benz taxis, trucks, etc. all over the place....could be because of lingering resentment over the wars with Germany. When I was there, a newspaper article was posted threatening to bring in German workers to solve the Jaguar quality problems if the British workmen didn't rise to the task! I never saw an AMG, in fact MUCH smaller engines were favored. People with larger engines were looked on as being of low tastes, someone that was flaunting that they had stumbled upon a little money but didn't have the breeding to know what to do with it. Perhaps some of the cars were de-lettered/numbered because they wanted to hide the fact that they had a gas guzzler. Consider that Prince Charles had his vintage Aston Martin rebuilt to run on spoiled wine!

RJC

Debadging is primarily about just that, trying to hide something, good or bad.

I wonder how many people would opt for an alligator delete option on alligator izod shirts lol...

lfranklin

They're not "badges" they are plastic letters and numbers, and maybe people don't like dealers or manufacturers sticking plastic junk on an expensive paint job. How many people tolerate dealers sticking their advertising on a car that they have paid sixty thousand or more dollars for? The manufacturer's are doing no less than that. Only some self-deluded adolescent or desperate mid-life crisis left-behind is going to believe that sticking something on his car or removing something from it is going to increase his worth in life - as far as that goes - if you somehow feel that you must defend yourself against someone that "debadges" their car and that "god forbid" someone may think that a "lesser" car has as much "status" as yours when they actually paid less for it....get a life.

hyperion667

izod sux, Brooks Brothers is where it's at.......

hyperion667

How many people tolerate dealers sticking their advertising on a car that they have paid sixty thousand or more dollars for?
Lfranklin

I can't agree with this more....I hate it too......

wmoor004

Good Point! Remove all or nothing...

I am seriously considering removing all plastic letters and numbers from my11...

K-A

More de-badged cars out here today. I even saw an E63 (W211) de-badged. It's definitely not only the lower motor models. In fact, most people in Europe are proud to have the lower motors it seems, as bigger motors are deemed as wasteful or unnecessary. Very eye opening out here.

(Most) Benzes are certainly prestigious and expensive out here, and very rare as owned cars, but very common as Taxi's (in the popular areas at least) ironically.

RJC

Alligators eat sheep

RJC

I said it's mostly lower models not all
I'd imagine with fuel in Europe so expensive they've no choice to drive cars with smaller engines

220S

That's normally the case. fwiw, I lived outside of Paris in Ville-d'Avray (département Hauts-de-Seine) for many years. Europeans normally aren't into showing off their belongings to the rest of the world, and particularly not to their immediate neighbors. It's just not polite. Having the most expensive model of car is not seen as particularly important. Here in the US people seem much more concerned about showing their material wealth. It does appear to be more important to an American's self-esteem. It's more a cultural thing than anything else, imho.

I do have to admit that I sometimes feel self conscious driving this car, especially when I'm in rural areas and away from cosmopolitan centers. There is a stigma attached to a Mercedes that kinda bothers me and I feel it when I'm in less prosperous parts of the State. Debadging the car won't make much difference in that respect, but I did it anyway because I sincerely don't like the chrome plastic letters and prefer them off. I just really think it looks so much better (with the added benefit of not having to deal with the boy racers at stop lights )

Mtl20v

A debadged car looks much cleaner than one with badges. If I owned an AMG it would be debadged. In Germany I'd say half of the cars are de-badged...especially Audi and Mercedes.

wmoor004

Just took the badges off my11 and my wife's Lexus.. Look a lot better!

OAN: Just test drove my soon to be '11 CTS-V! All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!

K-A

Saw a C63 in Parid today that was de-badged! Certainly you wouldn't see that in America, lol.

*Paris*