Klartext: criticism of pure marketing

I have been following daimler’s marketing of the new s-class with interest. Quite nuchtern had a down-to-earth handler perhaps said: "dear customer, your old s-class is running out, but you could be interested in the new version: good leasing conditions for fleets, even better traffic jam adaptive cruise control, efficient and smooth running engines, better aerodynamics, lots of wellness, check it out." because basically there are only two real usps: it is the first car without incandescent lamps, with exclusively led lights. Hm. And in the v8 version there is a stereo camera, from whose evaluation (tagsuber) the chassis is adjusted. Quite nice. Overall clean update of an existing model. But marketing can’t write that in the brochure. The s-class is the flag bearer of the mercedes-benz brand, and that is why it is sung about as if it were the resurrected christ. Business as usual. The marketing is there to sing these anthems. But the press sings the same song, and that’s why i want to be a dissenting voice. As the doctors sing: "i am against it, because you are for it."

"Vision fulfilled", is the claim of the s-class, and because "vision" is a placeholder term that can be freely used in marketing, doctor snugg… Zetsche goes into more detail about what is meant to be imagined: "in every dimension, our claim was: the best or nothing." as i said, this is only meant to be thought, this is marketing. Even for a luxury class sedan, the doctor’s slogan is meaningless for the actual machine engineering. An s-class with bionically designed, cnc-machined magnesium forged rims and a gold-leaf coated titanium body full of naked slaves would certainly be very nice, but it would be seven-digit expensive. An example is the mentioned "road surface scan" in connection with the "magic body control"a stereo camera detects incoming bumps and adjusts the chassis accordingly. That does not work for over 130 km. "The best or nothing" had to mean: we build this with a (more expensive) laser scanner. Daimler’s realpolitik on the other hand is "we build it, because something cheap was available", and in this case it was the supplier module with the stereo camera. Which will soon also be available in the passat.

In general, the s-class has long lived on its brand substance, on its reputation from the old, better times. The self-understanding is still, quote: "the s-class is not only the technological spearhead of mercedes-benz, but of automotive development par excellence." this reputation actually still exists, as i read in the test reports. However, i do not see any justification for it in reality. Both the 7 and the a8 are technically far ahead of daimler’s luxury class.