Merc works to upgrade image

18 November 2003: The fifth anniversary of the merging of Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz company Chrysler is being handled as a very low key date this year against a background of troubles in partnerships and belt-tightening from HQ in Stuttgart.

Losses at both Chrysler and Mitsubishi, and resources needed for restructuring at both companies, have taken profits generated by the German company in effectively bail-out operations, according to many industry watchers.

And questions over quality in the main product haven’t helped, with the British version of the J D Power Vehicle Dependability Study dropping Mercedes to 26th place this year, below the industry average.

That result is partly blamed on a Mercedes obsession with being first with ever more sophisticated technology, a matter which has cost the brand dear in markets such as the US when some of that technology didn’t live up to hype. In some cases, customers were provided with new replacement cars.

There is also a belief that a move towards cost-cutting in the early 1990s led to poor quality control of externally-supplied components, which is showing through in reliability studies.

But the mood is not all bad. Sources at the three-pointed-star HQ say they are working to solve the real and perceived problems. And while BMW as a brand has gained more than Mercedes worldwide in the last couple of years, and is also on an aggressive programme of models expansion - the latest being the X3 and the 6 Series - analysts say that plans by the Stuttgart company to develop new niche cars on the A-Class and M-Class platforms bode well for the future.

And anyway, as a prestige brand, it is still considered the leader ahead of such as Audi, Jaguar and Lexus. And with a 10-15 per cent growth in the luxury segment over the next five years, things can only go up.

©2003 irishcar.com