there's a flip side to this...

if you kill all the accountants and let the engineers roam free (if you build it they will come), you run the risk of runaway costs.

'if you build it, they will come' basically translates into 'cost plus' pricing. Whatever the cost plus a decent markup and people will pay it no matter what. this strategy only works if the competition really sucks (read: Yugo-level).

this strategy will no longer work because the second and third-tier car makers have gotten much better. I think a Kia's quality has improved dramatically. Kia has basically narrowed the gap between it and MB to the point where the consumer will be faced with a hard choice for his consumer dollar.

if MB really insists on the 'cost plus' pricing, you might have a really really good C-class but it will be priced out of reach.

A good compromise has to be reached between the bean counters and the engineers. I think cost savings advancement could be made in the area of manufacturing i.e. more efficient factories. It will be hard to compete otherwise I think.

I'm sure I will get a lot of flak for this but hey.

Can you tell who might be an accountant in here?

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo