The Truth

[NeoAnderson84]

it was a buyout, chrysler was in trouble, Daimler Benz came and bought them for $36 mil. the company ID'd it as a merger simply because 2 companies were now 1

plastic is in al cars, lots of plastic, every car. thats just how it goes, and as far as how something looks, its based on opinion. i like mercedes interior. so did cadillac, thats why they took the shifter design.

and there u go backstepping, now mercedes isnt part sharing, theyre just getting close, technically, the crossfire is a mercedes but in order to easily sell it in the us it has a chrysler brand on it, means absolutely nothing. they were going to do it with a van too, i dunno if they will, doesnt interest me.the only point i was making, no car is independent, and since Mercedes did buy Chrysler, it merged after they bought it basically, anything chrysler is the same company, as mercedes. To be completely honest though, i wouldnt buy ANY new car. Mercedes had two peaks: the 50's and the early/mid 90's. the 124, 129, and 140 chassis' were the coolest and best built, and had real cool engines, my 6 cylinder sounds like a v8, scares hondas and junk. Ahh and moreover mercedes changed the V12 like 5 times between 92 and 2000, the 6 cylinder has been changed more like 10 times between 86 and 04, the v8 many many times as well, again not my main interest. And i dont like BMW of any era, they have always been looked at as the underdog to Mercedes. Never have tey been as successful

[Kevin321]

What I mean is that mercedes is at about the same level as daewoo,
some of you may disagree, but I just got done reading Car and Driver
and the new sl55amg is going to be a twinturbo 6.0 litre v12, that only
makes 610hp pretty sad for a twin turbo v12 dont you think? My point
is that they can not make a very good car, that is why Arty compared MB to daewoo. hope that makes sense.

[kleinefisch]

Originally Posted by GIR The S & CL classes are still being buildt and assembeld in Germany because Daimler wanted their own quality checks on these lines. The rest are not. Well actually the parts are being buildt in germany and then shipped over to the US where the cars are assembeld and painted. Logistic and tax wise this is the smartest thing todo.

Unless you take European delivery, which is the way to go. They pay for a bunch of stuff, like hotels, etc. (not many nights though). Then you ship the car back to the States. In the end, its a better deal too. You get a German quality German car, get to autobahn it, can see Europe, avoid taxes legally (which is like a passtime for me), and in the end, the car cost you less money than if you just bought it at your local dealer.

[NeoAnderson84]

if they cant make a very good car why does everyone keep buying them, making Mercedes the most valuable auto brand? no, twin turbo V12 for under 200K at 610 hp not bad, i dont think, even tho a SL55 is not a v12... an Enzo isnt turbo and it doesnt have much more, with lots less torque, actually i think the car is slower than the new sl will be, and it costs 650?

from what i can tell, kevin, you arent none too bright or perceptive anyhow. Id love to see a daewoo sell for 125 K since theyre the same level and all, BTW do u have a car kevin?

[LateNightCable]

" Everyone " does not buy Mercedes, a whole lot of us buy BMW. And in what way do you mean Mercedes is the " most valuable "? If you mean they are really expensive you got that right. Of course a Mercedes is going to look like it's holding good value - if it cost 10-15 thousand more than the competiton :roll: .

Neo, you're trying to come across as even minded, but underneith that, you're showing a superiority complex. Holding one's chosen marque in high esteem is one thing, but you are trying to find reasons to degrade other cars.

[NeoAnderson84]

No, by most valuable, and for the last time i hope, i am referring to Business Week (thats a magazine) displaying the most valuable brands and at the number 10 spot of most valuable brands in the world was Mercedes Benz. And if people are willing to pay more for a car then they like it a whole lot more than the alternative, obviously, i was saying in this forum its completely one-sided by hands down, everyone here has BMW but mercedes is doing its selling obviously more prolifically, thusly generating more funds than BMW.

[NeoAnderson84]

No im the only one here not putting other cars down!! Every one of these qualms come from some dumb BMW fanboy raggin on how mercedes cant do this cant do that! I simply state that that is wrong, Mercedes is better they prove it by making more money.

[thepolarfoxqx]

you know, you're just a bit cocky.

I think i would know what newsweek was (we investment banker types try to know just a bit about prevailing economics), and i can tell you, fortune published how much each manufacturer makes per car sold (total profit from automotive division/number of cars sold). BMW makes more than Daimler Chrysler. If you took the chysler off the end, BMW still made more per car than Daimler last year. I'm not quite a dumb fan boy.

And if you knew as much about business as you pretend to, you would know that there is a huge difference between a buyout and a merger, speaking of course in terms of what is neccesary to clear the regulators. The daimler chrysler deal was classified as a "Merger of Equals". They had no reason to claim that if it wasn't true. It was not bought for $36M, sorry. You don't call it a merger if it's a buyout. The deal was more than 95% composed of a stock swap, that sounds an awful lot like a merger to me.

There has not been a fundamental overhaul of the Mercedes engine line in a while. In 1998, they had a partial overhaul. Before that, it was the late 80s. In 1998, they moved from the single spark plug DOHC 4V layout they were using to a twin spark plug non-hemispheric SOHC 3V head layout. The V12 has stayed the same since the late 90s, they added turbos, but the engine itself has not changed largely. As far as technology goes, they are a bit behind the times, Jaguar, BMW, Audi, Nissan, and Toyota are all ahead at the moment, not all by a lot, but they are ahead. Mercedes' engines get their intended job done well, but they aren't best in class.

[LateNightCable]

Business Week and Mercedes concern themselves with one thing - business. Ultimately, the business, the profit, number of cars sold hasn't much to do with the cars. Cars matter. Mercedes is simply deft at marketing themselves, as their attempt to drown the market shows as evident.

One could say that BMW is just a lot more selective about how they run their business, and build their cars.

[NeoAnderson84]

Dang Fox, it says in ur profile ur a engineer and student dont it? well boy howdy us justa prodigy aint ya?

I dont claim to know business, ABC news can be quoted as saying "When Daimler-Benz gained control of Chrysler in 1998, the $36 billion buyout of one of America’s Big Three carmakers..." yes they merged but Daimler "took control". Thats all i know.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/busin...cs_000721.html

An overhaul in both 90, 93 and 98 occurred in the 6 cylinders, again i dont care about he 4 cylinders. and the v12s same since late 90s, its only 03, thats still pretty recent. especially when one is in the works (which i know you'll argue).

Mercedes engines right now produce more horse than all those companies, their "class", so yeah they are best, and if hey really havent changed i know they're reliable. U call everyone cocky, it doesnt offend me. So whatever.

BMW can make more per car if they want they still arent worth more. Besides if mercedes cost more, and make less profit per car, then they are obviously, undeniably more expensive to produce. And doesnt it mean that BMWs are being built cheaper and selling for more overhead, Combatting kevins argument that mercedes is doing just that. So thank you, bout time i get some help in herrrre. its like fighting off the barons eh?

uhhh.. what else?? oh with money comes quality, in time, Mercedes will no doubt be produced better, to prove this facet they released the Maybach and SLR