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Thread: Quality differences....?

  1. #1
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    Quality differences....?

    I really had to open this thread because it really interests me: i have been on internet car forums for quite a wile now, but what really catched my eye were the comments on some german car makers (concerning quality). Mercedes, as an example, seems to have a quite bad quality image in the US. In Europe, Merc is leading the reliability rankings for years now- but how is this difference possible? In general, german cars seem to have more (electrical) problems overseas. But how? I hope someone here has an answer.
    FIXIE EVOLVED INTO SMALL MOTORBIKE! Now driving a Simson KR51 <3

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  2. #2
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    mercedes had a bad rep towards the end of the 90's... will take awhile to live that down.
    also, conditions can be harsher outside of europe, leads to more failures compared to simpler, more rugged cars.
    hell, they used to be indestructible.. it's a shame that they're not at that same quality anymore.

    edit: oh also if it's like VW, then the cars sold in other markets aren't even made in germany
    Andreas Preuninger, Manager of Porsche High Performance Cars: "Grandmas can use paddles. They aren't challenging."

  3. #3
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    After the superbly built W124 and W201, Mercedes-Benz quality went down indeed, as a result of searching bigger profit margins. This ultimately went against them and have been lately trying to adress this issue, cutting down profit margins but increasing quality at the same time. This happened pretty much everywhere, including Europe.

    However nothing beats italians when it comes to reliability.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    I think the W124 and W201 were the last of MB's "built to a standard" cars. Lexus and the other Japanese luxury makes came in and showed the world that you could get that same level of quality for a lot less cash. That left MB struggling to reduce the price of their cars without cutting quality. It didn't work and seems to have taken MB a while to figure it out. Of course at the time they were also dealing with Chrysler though I suspect they took more from Chrysler than they ever put in. Chrysler had quite the war chest of cash when they paired up with MB.

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