Packard for 50+ years had the reputation as the world's leading volume - luxury car. In the '30s, as the luxury car market vanished, Packard produced a "middle class" product, the 120, which managed to preserve most of the legendary quality while selling at a Buick-level price. The firm also continued to sell their "senior" cars, and customers like The White House continued to buy.

But in the early '50s Packard underwent a management change and a decision was made to try and penetrate each sector of the market, to go from a legendary straight-8 to a problem-laden V8, and the public forgot what Packard was all about. In an ironic too-late move, Studebaker / Packard tried to reclaim its status by importing the 300 Mercedes-Benz line.

From the '60s to the '80s, Mercedes-Benz slipped neatly into the niche left by Packard's death in 1956. Mercedes was first of all a paragon of engineering, build quality, glamor, and conservative good taste...as had been Packard. Had Packard not made the mistake of building "cheap" and "dumbed-down" products in the early '50s, they might still be around...and Mercedes might still be a european exotic. The same could happen again if Daimler-Benz doesn't quickly wise up.
Food for thought.