Quote:
Originally Posted by chassis
Quote:
Originally Posted by David70
With Porsche being VW owned they have no reason to try to go after the low end of the market. MB doesn't have the same options.
Also add the GLA came out in 2013 in Europe which means they probably started designing it 4 years earlier? They only decided to start sending it here relatively recently and they have been in lower end markets for a long time, far before they worried much about EV's.
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Agree. So Porsche as a brand is being better managed by its brand owner than the MB brand is being managed by its brand owner.
Similar to the Lincoln LS, where Lincoln's brand owner attempted to enter the quasi-sport sedan premium/luxury market, to compete with Lexus, Acura, BMW and Mercedes. The LS didn't sell well, and didn't receive a refresh. Stretching the Lincoln brand DNA into a higher category didn't work. Similar to MB stretching their brand DNA into a lower category, it isn't working. |
It does dilute the brand, but I'd be hard pressed to say that they aren't working from a sales perspective. The sales numbers seem pretty decent for vehicles like the CLA and GLB despite how poor of a luxury vehicle they are. Brand image and badge sells even on the worst of products it seems. Its the same reason that BMW sells its X1/2 and 2GC. BMW should not stretch into the market either (and have even made fun of it with past advertising ads which were against FWD vehicles) and yet they have and they make poor BMW's that go against what the brand has stood for, but it does sell.