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Originally Posted by cawimmer430  Infiniti basically offers you a near BMW driving experience for less money.
Nissan just proved with the GT-R that they can compete on Porsche level.
Lexus is a serious competitor to Mercedes when it comes to luxury.
Claiming that _______ could never do this is a little ignorant, isn't it?  |
I agree that "never" is a strong word. But I'm not sure he means MB can't technically acheive that. It's a difference of philosophy. In the examples you cited, there is nothing in the philosophy behind those companies that would preclude them from beating the establishment at its own game. In fact, that's what Lexus/Infiniti set out to do from day one.
In the case of BMW, they needed badly to get back to their roots. Their success was founded largely (and particularly in the US) on the 2002. MB had nothing that was a direct competitor to this, just as BMW had no direct competitors to the large V8 luxury cars of MB. And to this day, there seems to be no clamor among the MB customer base to produce such a car.
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Originally Posted by cawimmer430 Basically, if Mercedes wanted to, they could build a car that can play ball with BMW. They just focus on other things namely comfort and luxury. |
I have no doubt that if they wanted to, they could. But in head to head tests against the 2-year old 3 Series, the C Class has consistently come up short. They don't even hold an advantage in their traditional strengths of comfort and luxury, unless the two are compared on UK roads and the BMW has the sport suspension. This is most glaringly obvious in tests (so far) between the M3 and C63, which has completely forfeited the ride comfort advantage that the C55 had, while not exactly making good on AMG's promise that "We have left no stone unturned in efforts to provide our new car the necessary qualities to lift it above the competition."