Oh no... Jürgen Schrempp screws up again!

[Andaluz]

BOLLOCKS BENZ BOSS SECURES SHIT SERIES
UK, SniffPetrol - Issue 69 - January 06

Jürgen Schrempp in his shoe shop yesterday.

No sooner has he resigned from the top job at DaimlerChrysler than Jürgen Schrempp has stunned fans of incredibly useless chief executives by signing up for a radical reality show on German television. The new series, to be called Schauen Sie Diesem Idioten Zu (Watch This Idiot), sees the hapless Schrempp take over the running of a small shoe shop in Stuttgart and, with filming already underway, the show's producers are promising plenty of comedy management and lashings of red ink. In the first episode, due to be transmitted on TV station Deutsch Alle Scheiße at the start of next month, Schrempp takes over running the shop and immediately decides to merge with a greengrocer on the other side of town, having failed to realise that they are making no money because all their fruit is rotten!

More market share losing hilarity is promised in episode two when Schrempp decides to load all of his shoes with pointless amounts of technology. Imagine the look on his face when he discovers that all the laces keep snapping and the soles fall off, forcing half of his customers to take their business to Die Blau Propellor Shoehaus across the street! With Schrempp now into his third week of mis-managing the business, German internet chat sites are hot with rumours that the rather rubbish boss is about to blow his week's takings on something called 'Smart Shoes'.

Although there are currently no plans to screen Schauen Sie Diesem Idioten Zu in the UK, TV industry spies say Channel 4 has already bought the format rights and is well progressed with development of a show provisionally entitled John Towers Buys An Antique Shop And Then Spunks The Contents Of The Till On A V8 Carbon Fibre Sideboard.

 

[siko]

Nice title for the show!

 

[cawimmer430]

LOL

Seriously though, Schrempp is the guy to blame for all the quality troubles MB has experienced lately. His bold decision to cut costs (including R&D times!) is the main culprit IMO.

I'm glad Zetsche is heading MB now. He strikes me as a guy with more charm and a guy with a solid vision. Not like Schrempp...

 

[yomomwhat]

LOL

Seriously though, Schrempp is the guy to blame for all the quality troubles MB has experienced lately. His bold decision to cut costs (including R&D times!) is the main culprit IMO.

I'm glad Zetsche is heading MB now. He strikes me as a guy with more charm and a guy with a solid vision. Not like Schrempp...

ok yea he cut costs loads but he also made MB sell far more cars per year and made lots of lower end models

 

[cawimmer430]

ok yea he cut costs loads but he also made MB sell far more cars per year and made lots of lower end models

The first generation A-Class, which Schrempp had a big say in, was (let's be honest) a mediocre execution of what MB was capable off. The original A-Class just screams COST-CUTTING. Cheap interior, flimsy build quality, lousy unrefined engines (except for the A170 CDI) and a high price tag didn't mix well. The car sold over 1 million units because "of the badge". I am a hardcore Mercedes-fan, but the original A-Class was IMHO, a true piece of garbage. The facelift improved the car tremendously, but the A-Class was never a "real Mercedes" as they say here in Europe. The new A-Class thankfully has the credentials and quality to back it up, and justify the price tag in one way or the other. The original A-Class IMO, didn't.

Many people also questioned the original A-Classes place on the market. Wouldn't such a car bring down MB's prestige among consumers? I realize the need for changes, but the original A-Class should have been what the current A-Class is: well built etc. In that way, customers see it as a "new Mercedes model", but it's got the quality etc. to make it a serious player. I have to say it again, the old A-Class only sold well because of the Mercedes badge on it.

Schrempp's plan was simple: reduce costs wherever possible and this is the reason why the A-Class, W210 E-Class, original W220 S-Class and a few other cars had cheaper interior materials. I could go on but Schrempp isn't a hero in my book. Auto Motor und Sport had a little review about the heads of German car companies and they gave Schrempp a 3/5 star rating. In this weeks AMS magazine, it's filled with subscriber complaints that Schrempp doesn't even deserve 1 star!

 

[Giannis]

what did they say about the BMW boss in that article Christian?

 

[cawimmer430]

what did they say about the BMW boss in that article Christian?

I have the magazine but not with me at the moment. Will post what they said about everyone tomorrow. I do remember that Panke also got 3/5 stars.

Martin Winterkorn of Audi and W. Wiedeking of Porsche got 5/5 stars.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

I have the magazine but not with me at the moment. Will post what they said about everyone tomorrow. I do remember that Panke also got 3/5 stars.

Martin Winterkorn of Audi and W. Wiedeking of Porsche got 5/5 stars.

I thing Dr. Panke would have deserved 4 1/2 stars or more.
Putting him on par with Schrempp is underestimating him a lot and overestimating Schrempp a lot.
Ms. Wideking would have deserved 6 stars, cause Porsche went under him from an almost banckrupt company to the best car company in the world.

 

[cawimmer430]

I thing Dr. Panke would have deserved 4 1/2 stars or more.
Putting him on par with Schrempp is underestimating him a lot and overestimating Schrempp a lot.
Ms. Wideking would have deserved 6 stars, cause Porsche went under him from an almost banckrupt company to the best car company in the world.

I have the article here. Made a mistake about Panke, he got 4/5 stars.

Porsche
Wendelin Wiedeking 5/5

Audi
Martin Winterkorn 5/5

BMW
Helmut Panke 4/5

DCX
Jürgen Schrempp 3/5

VW
Bernd Pischetsrieder 3/5

Ford
Bernhard Mattes 3/5

Opel
Hans Demant 3/5

 

[yomomwhat]

The first generation A-Class, which Schrempp had a big say in, was (let's be honest) a mediocre execution of what MB was capable off. The original A-Class just screams COST-CUTTING. Cheap interior, flimsy build quality, lousy unrefined engines (except for the A170 CDI) and a high price tag didn't mix well. The car sold over 1 million units because "of the badge". I am a hardcore Mercedes-fan, but the original A-Class was IMHO, a true piece of garbage. The facelift improved the car tremendously, but the A-Class was never a "real Mercedes" as they say here in Europe. The new A-Class thankfully has the credentials and quality to back it up, and justify the price tag in one way or the other. The original A-Class IMO, didn't.

Many people also questioned the original A-Classes place on the market. Wouldn't such a car bring down MB's prestige among consumers? I realize the need for changes, but the original A-Class should have been what the current A-Class is: well built etc. In that way, customers see it as a "new Mercedes model", but it's got the quality etc. to make it a serious player. I have to say it again, the old A-Class only sold well because of the Mercedes badge on it.

Schrempp's plan was simple: reduce costs wherever possible and this is the reason why the A-Class, W210 E-Class, original W220 S-Class and a few other cars had cheaper interior materials. I could go on but Schrempp isn't a hero in my book. Auto Motor und Sport had a little review about the heads of German car companies and they gave Schrempp a 3/5 star rating. In this weeks AMS magazine, it's filled with subscriber complaints that Schrempp doesn't even deserve 1 star!

the old a-class still was better than any of its competitors at the time lol, i wasn't saying he was a hero or anything, all i was saying is he made mercedes available to people which say didnt have enough money to buy the more expensive ones...which is true, i half agree with you when you say it sold only because of the badge, but yea, mercedes got more customers.....a lot more customers, than if they hadn't made it.......and they still got money out of it LOL, if the a class hadnt been made and them 1 million a classes hadnt been sold then the money from them 1 million people would have gone to another company.....if you get what i am saying haa

 

[cawimmer430]

the old a-class still was better than any of its competitors at the time lol, i wasn't saying he was a hero or anything, all i was saying is he made mercedes available to people which say didnt have enough money to buy the more expensive ones...which is true, i half agree with you when you say it sold only because of the badge, but yea, mercedes got more customers.....a lot more customers, than if they hadn't made it.......and they still got money out of it LOL, if the a class hadnt been made and them 1 million a classes hadnt been sold then the money from them 1 million people would have gone to another company.....if you get what i am saying haa

That's true though. The A-Class made MB accessible to younger less financially powerful buyers, despite its high price when compared to eventual competitors in its class- but so did the 1982-1993 W201 190-series Mercedes, which was a quality car despite the austere appearing interior. The A-Class should have been better executed, for a Mercedes, and Schrempp's cost-cutting policy prevented this.

 

[450SEL6.9]

I think Porsche is a unique example because it's still a family-run company. The Piech and Porsche families own the entire lot of voting stock so they don't have to listen to every disgruntled stockholder or stock market analyst.

Let's not forget that Mr. Schrempp got his 500,000 Euro armoured S600 stolen when he was still in-charge! I dislike how Mercedes started courting the less financially powerful buyers. In 1989, the 190E cost about 45,000 Cdn. dollars before tax. The basic B200 starts at a shade over 30,000 in today's dollars. A Mercedes-Benz is not the people's mass market car and their management shop quit devaluing their brand by building poor quality vehicles to turn themselves into a car for the every man.

 

[cawimmer430]

Let's not forget that Mr. Schrempp got his 500,000 Euro armoured S600 stolen when he was still in-charge! I dislike how Mercedes started courting the less financially powerful buyers. In 1989, the 190E cost about 45,000 Cdn. dollars before tax. The basic B200 starts at a shade over 30,000 in today's dollars. A Mercedes-Benz is not the people's mass market car and their management shop quit devaluing their brand by building poor quality vehicles to turn themselves into a car for the every man.

The 190 Mercedes was a QUALITY car, durable as hell. It was priced "attractively" to suck younger buyers into the brand. The style of the 1980s favored hard and plain looking black plastics, which explains the austere looking interior (and that of the W124 E-Class, R129 SL and even the 1990s W202 C-Class) of the 190, but it's durable.

The W168 A-Class WASN'T. I wouldn't be surprised if I see them falling apart soon, especially the earlier models. I worked for an MB dealer last summer and got to drive a few of the early A-Classes...horrible. 1980s Japanese cars had better quality interiors. The only reason the first generation A-Class sold at all was because of the three-pointed-star upfront.

With changing times, Mercedes HAS HAD TO TARGET YOUNGER AUDIENCES. Younger buyers will often not be as financially powerful as older buyers, and hence Mercedes had to make an "affordable" car that would appeal to these people and hook them on the brand. I suppose the A-Class was the correct decision, but my problem with the A-Class was that it didn't possess a single Mercedes-Benz core value or trait, except safety (and that after the Elk test debacle). Thank the Lord that the new A-Class is what the first A-Class should have been from the start: a quality car.