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"DCX QUARTERLY EARNINGS FALL 30%. Daimler-
Chrysler AG says its net earnings in the first quarter declined 30% to $374 million this year, dragged down by a $1.2 billion operating loss for its Mercedes Car Group." Toyota's net profit grew to $2.9 Billion for the quarter. GM's automotive operations lost $1.3 Billion.
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Zafar 94 E320 58000 Miles |
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Inted you are seeing exactly what I have seen. Lexus takes the Germans technoligy and improves on it to make it reliable. They also let MB come out with something first.
It is a very good stratigy and is proving to be very profitable. However I would never buy a Lexus because where is the fun? I was checking out a new LS430 the other day and it felt very much like a W140. Infiniti on the other hand has some cool stuff out their. I will probably get one someday. Their 3.5L V6 is a very impressive engine.
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1999 SL500 1969 280SE 2023 Ram 1500 2007 Tiara 3200 |
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I meet the same type of people that you do except I tell them that the parts for my E320 rear brake job (rotors & pads) cost me only $150 since I am able to do the labor myself. They get upset since they usually spend at least $1,000 for service on their cars. I have been offered to service their cars but I decline telling them that I can't afford the liability.
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Ray 1998 Mercedes E320, 200K Miles 2001 Acura 3.2TL, 178K Miles 1992 Chevy Astro, 205K Miles |
#19
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2002 G500 74K 1998 E300 200K and rising 1995 S600 73k "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."-Ronald Reagan "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."-General George S. Patton Last edited by W140 S600; 04-30-2005 at 04:54 PM. |
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#21
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1999 SL500 1969 280SE 2023 Ram 1500 2007 Tiara 3200 |
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MB has to spend more money in R & D to develop quailty products and avoid problems like the spring perch failure.
Toyota spends a lot of money in development and it shows in the products. "GM will spend $8 billion on new products this year, up from $7 billion last year. That sounds like a lot, but Toyota by comparison spent $15.3 billion last year, according to BusinessWeek." Even BMW considers Lexus to be the benchmark. "Reithofer says Lexus was BMW's quality benchmark, not vehicles from German rivals Mercedes-Benz AG or Audi AG. BMW's ambition is to overtake Lexus in the J.D. Power and Associates vehicle dependability study in the United States, he says. In last year's survey, Lexus was the highest-ranked brand for the 10th straight year. BMW, the best-ranked European brand, took the fifth spot." In many ways, GM and MB are similar, they have the resources and long automotive history, but are failing to produce technically superior vehicles.
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Zafar 94 E320 58000 Miles |
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Also interesting is that the value of GM stock is now lower than that of Harley Davidson. Simply amazing.
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Paul S. 2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior. 79,200 miles. 1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron". |
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Staying on-subject
I find the design flaw which causes the perch failure to be excusable...after all, these cars are now up to 9 years old and it is hard to foresee every possible failure mode in every component.
What I find absolutely INEXCUSABLE is the foot dragging on performing a recall on what must be a priority-one safety related failure. Mark my words, MB will HAVE TO RECALL THESE EVENTUALLY when enough people who experience failures complain to NHTSA, so, why not just do it now and get it over with? I'll tell you why...they know every month they put it off another few hundred cars will hit the crushers or junkyards for one reason or another and then there will be that many fewer left for them to foot the repair bills to fix. But how many people will be injured or killed until they are forced to own up to this??? Also, to say they will only pay for repairs for the original owners is ludicrous - how can there be any moral distinction between an "original" owner and "current" owner when it comes to a safety issue. I can see it if you are talking about cosmetics or convenience issues like dashboard cracks or window regulators (both of which they deny knowing of systematic failures) but when the passenger's lives are at stake how can they say they will only cover "original owners".
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Marty D. 2013 C300 4Matic 1984 BMW 733i 2013 Lincoln MKz |
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I wonder how many 1989 Lexus' are on the road.... first year built....as a 90 model.
I wonder what shape they are in? I wonder how they ride> I wonder how difficult they are to maintain after 15 years? just wondering.
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1989 300ce 129k ( facelifted front,updated tail lights, lowered suspension,bilstein sports, lorinser front spoiler, MOMO steering wheel, remus exhaust,stainless steel brake lines). (Gone) 1997 s320 154k (what a ride). Sold with 179k miles. Replaced with Hyundai Equus 1994 e320 Cabriolet 108k 1972 280se 4.5 153k Owned for 12 yrs, sorry I sold it [/SIGPIC] |
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Mercedes covered the R107 subframe problems for years and years beyond the warranty period. They replaced many 3.5L six slug diesel engines way beyond the warranty. And so on...
Those days are gone. Now they try to weasel out of paying out a dime. Is it our fault? We expect them to compete on price. I don't think so. Acura is covering all those bad five speed automatics, on a car that is the price leader in the segment.
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John Shellenberg 1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif |
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2. Some that were taken care of are still in nice shape. However the same can be said for any car. 3. If they are sorted pretty well, I think the suspension is cost prohibitive to rebuild 4. From me research they are great until the break. LS400's can bit just as hard as a MB in poor shape.
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1999 SL500 1969 280SE 2023 Ram 1500 2007 Tiara 3200 |
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