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My 911 is 23 years old, I can still buy every part for it, from Porsche. This would be true if it were a 30 year old 964.
My C55 is 13 years old, Mercedes have stopped making the sub-frame for it, which is a vital part of the car without which it must be scrapped.
My (100% anecdotal) experience here tells me that this drives more value into the 911 as you won’t suddenly discover that Porsche is telling you to scrap it, which supports second hand values, brand perception etc etc.
Mercedes on the other hand have just removed the value of every single C55 and CLK55, globally. Unless you take them to a fabricator, as I am going to do.
Boo hoo, so sad, you might well say. And of course it’s up to the manufacturer what they continue to make, but it’s also up to me what my reaction to their decisions is, and in this case my opinion of Mercedes has taken something of a dive.
I’d also point out that if their customer service wasn’t catastrophically shit, I’d get my C55 serviced by them (3km away) rather than DDR (50km away).
Dammit-
I both wholeheartedly agree and disagree at the same time.
Brands that define themselves as premium through quality - i.e. Apple vs Gucci - should make quality products and provide quality service (upfront and aftermarket).
But lets be honest, in the majority of scenarios that is a poor business strategy. Even more so when you already have an established brand.
The fact that Mercedes have a department for creating the illusion of quality through driver contact points - weights of doors, etc. tells you everything you need to know about the company's approach to building cars.
#csb incoming: A good friend of mine was going into product design and did a placement at a car manufacturer. They scrapped that as a future career when they saw that everything was geared toward adding features to drive sales and not improving design (they are a lefty design purest sort of person).
hugo7
Also in terms of customer service would anyone provide you with it on a 10yo car?
I just don't think that's how the business works anymore. They want you buying a car every 2-3yrs max and probably don't see why they should service "owners" who aren't "customers". A cynic might say thats why anecdotally premium cars seem to shit themselves relatively soon nowadays.