German Car Forum

The "least reliable luxury brand in America", took the lead of the luxury car market in America.

Well done Mercedes.

Good for MB. But I can't wait until they get rid of the "Least relaible luxury car" crap.

Hear Hear!

Me too mate.

Own-up Zetsche!

i can't believe cadillac sold that many car, here in san francisco bay area i don't see that many caddy compare with bmw and lexus. may be it's becuz of government purchase?

Nah, go down to North Carolina, Virginia, Los Angeles or something you'll see tons of Caddilacs. Plus, you are forgetting, you might not see many caddilac cars but I'm sure you've seen tons of Escalades. When I lived in Berkeley and went to school in San Fran I saw tons of escalades.

$42000, what a stupid figure

good for MB..keep on killin em

Why is that a stupid figure? Considering that the Average US family can afford upto 35-40k dollar car (read that in some report) that would make the 42k figure above average or a premium figure in this case. If you take that into consideration this actually holds merrit.

not a surprise to me, Mercedes does know how to make a comfy car and do it right.

well, than why not 35.000.
No disrespecting MB, but one can be nr 1 at any price, it all depends where you put the bar. Just don't see the point of this.

lOl, MB is really kicken the competition in the pants here in the US!


Those figures are outstanding to say the least.

Yes, introduction of new S-class & GL-class boosted MB back to #1.

You should've read my last post more carefully. They reason they didn't use the 35-40k figure is because that is the Average...why would they use an average figure to portray a premium product? That would be like talking about a civic type-r in a supercars conversation...sure it's fast but it aint no supercar. Same way with this....they can talk about the average income buyers, but that wouldn't be premium anymore now would it?

Congratulations for Mercedes, but I'm a bit peeved Caddy sold more than BMW.

Well, considering that this figures exclude BMW's best-selling bread and butter model, the 3er... It ain't that bad at all.

...and considering that BMW　has much fewer models compared to MB

Good news indeed. Evidence that the Mercedes brand name is still very powerful and that there are still many people out there who want a car from this brand. This has to be used wisely and Mercedes has to make the right moves from now on, mainly:

Improve quality and reliability (which in my experience seems to be improving big time)

Also, there are many people out there who've had no issues with their Mercedes. My family's 2002 Mercedes E320 Avantgarde was one of the first models delivered and it has been reliable, so far. No electronic problems, no breakdowns, nothing. Reliable from day one. And the E-Class was known to be a very problematic car.

I hope Consumer Reports reads this article. It's like a SLAP IN THEIR FACE!

Killing them with crap

......no just kidding. But Mercedes are clearly trading on their image when they rate so poorly in the reliability studies.

^well its the american studys..
i know they had probs in the past..but the new cars are winning awards over in europe..
maybe it takes a while before the american system gets that there has been a change..

And this is what I cannot understand. Here in Europe, the company has been praised for its return to quality and reliability has improved tremendously.

Also, if am not mistaken, the American survey results were for the most part based on predicted reliability, right?

The most recent studies were for cars pre 2006, so not exactly a reflection of what is comming out now.

Missed this thread earlier. What these results mean to me is very simple and fits with my impression of things:

In the USA, the cheaper 3 series is the major reason why BMW is so successful. When it comes to the higher end models, more people choose the 3 pointed star over anything else.

I agree. This meaningless drivel was originally invented to give Cadillac some type of "title" in the past. If they want to count true luxury car sales then 50K or 60K should be the criteria. The American car fanatics on certain websites live for this type of BS about who sold the most "luxury priced" vehicles. Nevermind that once you pass 60K all Cadillac can do is watch MB, BMW and Lexus print money. Stupid, stupid, stupid distinction here.

M

Actually, when I look at the prices of cars from BMW and Mercedes in the USA, the $42000 cut off is a nice one to use because it separates the entry level cars from the higher end cars.

The only BMW cars that are sold under $42000 is the 3 series, the X3, and the cheapest Z4 3.0i.

For Mercedes, it's even more straightforward. The only car which sells for under $42000 is the C-class.

Therefore, you may debate the use of the actual number of $42000 to distinguish higher end or lower end luxury market, but a ballpark of around $40-45000 is VERY appropriate to separate the entry luxury segment from the higher end luxury segment.

From my point of view, a 5 series or E-class is in a different league from a 3 series or C-class, in terms of the type of people who can afford them.

All of that may be true, but this was originally conceived for the boasting of GM officials about Cadillac. They've moved the number around so many times its ridiculous. Everyone already knows that the higher the price Mercedes sells the most cars, no need for this irrelevant stat, IMO of course.

M