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Originally Posted by BeeMer Boi Oh, but it has. As I stated, put back the clock to 1990 (doesnt seem too long ago actually) ..you would have to be a very brave man (or a crazy one) to predict that in 10-15years time BMW would get close to beating Mercedes in sales, let along actually surpass them. Yes the margin may be fairly small, but that's not the point here. The point is that not only has gap closed, but the tables have turned and there is a new leader in terms of global sales.
Hehehe, I expected a comment like that sooner or later. Again, you are missing the point, it's not the gap which is the focal point of this thread (and that article that Osna posted at the start), the point is Mercedes should have never been in the situation to allow BMW to get so close. Ofcourse it's inevitable that BMW and Audi would close the gap, but it's not like we could see this coming a decade ago. Only recently have we realised that MB is not as strong as we once thought, and also that BMW and Audi have become stronger.
The way I see it is, it's not a matter of how much of a difference there is, heck, it wouldn't make a difference if BMW beat MB in sales by just 1 car...it's the fact that MB even let its competition get so close after it had such a strong, favourable and unique position atop of the luxury car market.
..and oh, this point you keep making about how the gap "isn't all that much of a difference". All I got to say is, if you were the Marketing Manager for MB and that was your main arguement, then I pity what CEO and Board of Directors would do to you. |
Look I understand what you're saying, what I don't agree with is the hype part of it. I'm not surprised that BMW has closed the gap on sales, and the reasons why have been listed throughout this thread, but all this talk like it is the end of the world is just plain ridiculous.
If I were a marketing manager for Mercedes-Benz my response would be to get the company back on track instead of pining away on oh how the great have fallen and oh how did we let this happen and so on. It has happened, now its time to deal with it, but this attitude like Mercedes was some type of god and could never be caught is silly. They're a car company like all the rest and such a long run as they've had at the top was bound to come to an end sooner or latter - nothing lasts forever.
BTW, I never said that the gap was the focal point, you made it that will this talk about the bottom line being that if you aren't selling more cars than your competitors you aren't on top stuff, I didn't. You made the statement about sales being what puts one "on top", and I was merely pointing out that the sales gap wasn't even serious enough to warrant such doomsday talk. Of course I understand the bigger picture here, read anything I've said about Mercedes around here.
M