Here is a picture of Prince Waleed’s US$4.8 million dollar Mercedes.
No, it’s not that expensive because he upgraded to the ‘leather package’ … it’s because for he had the machine covered in diamonds.
Putting aside the fact it’s hardly practical [I mean, you can’t exactly park it at the local Asda can you?] … I wonder if this car could prove to be a tipping point for Mercedes?
Let’s look at the Bentley brand …
In the past few years, Bentley enjoyed their greatest level of sales. When you look for why, you realise much of the growth came from America’s Millionaire Rap Artists deciding it was the car they wanted to be seen in. All well and good …
However jump to today, and Bentley are under sever sales pressure … and whilst there are many reasons for this, one of the most significant is that Bentley loyalists [ie: Rich, Anglo-Saxon, Conservatives] don’t want to be associated with the sort of ‘people’ they feel now drive the brand today. [ie: America’s Millionaire Rap Artists]
Thus a brand has potentially had the rug pulled out from under it by it’s own customers – proving that for every action, there’s a reaction so you’d better be aware of it! [It also proves brands are ‘owned’ by the people, not the manufacturer but you already knew that didn’t you!]
So back to Merc.
Well basically my hypothesis is similar to the Bentley scenario.
What happens if all the Rap Artists see the ‘bling’ on this Merc and start ordering their own version? OK, so it will probably help Bentley attract some of their old customers back, but would Merc’s long-term customer base [plus all those who aspire to owning a Merc – who lets face it, are probably more into Robbie Williams than N.W.A.] suddenly look for an alternative brand which they felt was more suited to the values they judged themselves by?
Just a thought …