Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

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).