Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Mike, I think different cars appeal to different people. One thing I have noticed, as a long time Merc owner, is that Mercedes have had to lower quality to keep their prices competitive with other brands, some of which have gained a good reputation by marketing despite being very cheaply made. Another point about gearboxes. The Merc cars do not particularly suit manual gearboxes, they have foot parking brakes and their latest auto 'boxes give away no performance and little economy to the manuals. BMW's OTOH are much better as manuals, firstly it suits a sporty car well second the BMW autos kill the performance and economy. Frank On 4 Jun, 2005, at 08:05, Michael J Herring wrote: > I disagree entirely. I work for the company. I also enjoy driving > manual > transmission vehicles and have driven them for over 30 years. > Unfortunately, > Mercedes would be out of business if they only produced manual > transmission > vehicles for the people with sufficient income to own a Benz. > It is all about luxury and these folks do not want to have to shift > or use > a > clutch. > > AND by the way, Mercedes-Benz could teach Leica an awful lot about > successful marketing strategies! > > Mike > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Marc James Small" <msmall@aya.yale.edu> > To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> > Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 8:42 PM > Subject: [Leica] Car Prices > > > >> 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 >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> > > > -- > I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. > It has removed 371 spam emails to date. > Paying users do not have this message in their emails. > Try www.SPAMfighter.com for free now! > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >