Ute will ruin Mercedes’ luxury image

Mercedes and BMW’s hunger for double digit growth could cost both companies their status as a luxury car brand, says a scathing report by industry experts.

The serious threat posed to premium German brands follows BMW’s launch of the seven-seat 2 Series Gran Tourer and Mercedes-Benz plans to spin-off a luxury ute off the Nissan Navara pick-up’s chassis.

Chief critic of the BMW-badged people movers and Merc utes is industry pundit and AutoExtremist.com publisher, Peter De Lorenzo.

De Lorenzo believes the more premium brands push deeper into mass-market territory, the more they jeopardise the value of their brand.

Speaking to newswire, Automotive News, De Lorenzo said: "While Porsche has done a very good job reminding customers why its brand is special, and Audi has been consistent, BMW and Mercedes are guilty of losing their focus".

De Lorenzo believes BMW and Mercedes’ dash to gain scale through volume is driven chiefly by the Volkswagen Group, which spent more on R&D last year than any other global company.

This has forced Mercedes to team up with Renault-Nissan, hence the co-operation on the new ute. BMW, meanwhile, is already working with both Toyota and Mazda to help compete with Volkswagen and these tie-ups have proved too tempting for the German car maker, opting to enter previously untouched non-premium segments.

Mercedes-Benz has already made costly mistakes that include the slow-selling R-Class, while BMW’s big 5 Series GT, although selling well initially has seen sales trail off rapidly.

Even BMW senior execs are voicing their concern.

Speaking to Automotive News, BMW board member, Ian Robertson said: "The checkerboard of segments and body styles is almost full. In the years ahead, we have to decide whether to replace models that play in segments which are contracting.”

BMW brand MINI has already learnt the hard way and has rapidly reduced its product range after poor sales for some variants.