Other than obvious stuff such as exchange rates and inflation, I believe there are a couple of things going on here. One is the simple fact that the number of 124 cars running around is on the decline. Decresed production=increased production cost. I have also always believed that Mercedes (and probably other manufacturers) apply pressure to older vehicle owners by making it more and more expensive to maintain their vehicles. This is easily done by increasing parts prices and of course their motivation is to sell more new cars.
Ron
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