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04-02-2013, 04:58 PM
Filed under: Car Buying (http://www.autoblog.com/category/carbuying/), Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/category/mercedes-benz/)
What's Happening To This Once-Exclusive Segment?
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/03/2014-mercedes-benz-cla-250---11-opt-1364587032.jpg (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2014-mercedes-benz-cla-250-sport-first-drive/#photo-5688103)
These days, luxury makers seem to have an adversity to white space.
What comes before "A"? That's the problem Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/) apparently has to cope with as it works up plans for an all-new premium minicar that's currently being referred to as the X-Class (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/17/mercedes-mulling-renault-based-entry-level-x-class/).
It's been three decades since the German maker first introduced - after much internal debate - the original "Baby Benz," the line that became today's C-Class (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/c-class/). It's more recently added downsized B- (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/b-class/) and A-Class (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/a-class/) lines, as well, the X- expected to be even smaller. And that's on top of all the other new models that have rapidly fleshed out the Teutonic marque's lineup, from the G (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/g-class/) to the GLK (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/glk-class/), not to mention CLS (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/cls-class/), CLA (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/cla-class/) (above) and SLK (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/slk-class/).
It's an alphanumeric soup, and Mercedes isn't alone, as a quick perusal of the BMW (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/) and Audi (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/) lineups - never mind the expanding mix at Cadillac (http://www.autoblog.com/cadillac/), Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/lincoln/), Lexus (http://www.autoblog.com/lexus/) and Jaguar (http://www.autoblog.com/jaguar/) - reveals. These days, luxury makers seem to have an adversity to white space. They're struggling to fill in every possible gap in what is a luxury market that is both rapidly growing and quickly changing.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/07/eisenstein-driving-thumb.jpgPaul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com (http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/) and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.
Continue reading Redefining luxury (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/)
Redefining luxury (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20523173/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/)
What's Happening To This Once-Exclusive Segment?
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/03/2014-mercedes-benz-cla-250---11-opt-1364587032.jpg (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2014-mercedes-benz-cla-250-sport-first-drive/#photo-5688103)
These days, luxury makers seem to have an adversity to white space.
What comes before "A"? That's the problem Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/) apparently has to cope with as it works up plans for an all-new premium minicar that's currently being referred to as the X-Class (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/17/mercedes-mulling-renault-based-entry-level-x-class/).
It's been three decades since the German maker first introduced - after much internal debate - the original "Baby Benz," the line that became today's C-Class (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/c-class/). It's more recently added downsized B- (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/b-class/) and A-Class (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/a-class/) lines, as well, the X- expected to be even smaller. And that's on top of all the other new models that have rapidly fleshed out the Teutonic marque's lineup, from the G (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/g-class/) to the GLK (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/glk-class/), not to mention CLS (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/cls-class/), CLA (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/cla-class/) (above) and SLK (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/slk-class/).
It's an alphanumeric soup, and Mercedes isn't alone, as a quick perusal of the BMW (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/) and Audi (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/) lineups - never mind the expanding mix at Cadillac (http://www.autoblog.com/cadillac/), Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/lincoln/), Lexus (http://www.autoblog.com/lexus/) and Jaguar (http://www.autoblog.com/jaguar/) - reveals. These days, luxury makers seem to have an adversity to white space. They're struggling to fill in every possible gap in what is a luxury market that is both rapidly growing and quickly changing.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/07/eisenstein-driving-thumb.jpgPaul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com (http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/) and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.
Continue reading Redefining luxury (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/)
Redefining luxury (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20523173/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/02/redefining-luxury/)