Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 08:26 PM 6/3/05 -0400, Michael J Herring wrote: >I don't see Mercedes-Benz adopting this practice. They are quite >competitive >with the Japanese luxury car manufacturers. You have this absolutely backwards. The Japanese luxury-car producers (if anyone here has ever driven or rode in one of these excesses to good taste, I suspect that we would all agree that these are only "luxury" cars by a gross extention of the term, but that is is a discussion for a different day) figure out the price point for Mercedes and then rig their own prices a tad under that level. Mercedes pricing drives the market, for reasons which escape me: who would pay that kind of money for an automatic transmission car? Automatic transmissions are for the sort of folks who ought not to be granted driving licenses. If Mercedes is seeking this market, I would suggest that they produce a market-entry $9,999 vessel for my welfare-class clients, all of whom are riding about in rusted-out '76 Continentals and who are anxious to upgrade to a newer vehicle, the sole requirement being that they cannot stay off drugs long enough to shift a gear. I'll stick with my '84 Audi 4000S. There is one problem with this car: you have to THINK while you operate it. That really is a problem with most USian drivers. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! NEW FAX NUMBER: +540-343-8505