C-Class ragtop is Mercedes first-class

IT IS very interesting to observe the goings-on at Mercedes right now as the company eyes-up a rate of expansion that is more wildly ambitious than anything the great German marque has undertaken in its long and illustrious history.

Time was when the Stuttgart concern looked down from its lofty perch with a disdainful eye on what other manufacturers were doing, safe in the knowledge that lesser car makers could never match the levels of brand awareness and loyalty, as well as the sort of brand recognition that rivals of the three-pointed star could only dream of.

Mercedes’ previously lofty indifference at such expansionism and its belief that steady profitability and growth was a much better state of affairs, has now radically changed and a new policy which has seen massive investment in plant and product in recent years, is aimed at mining much greater mother lodes of new markets and new customers.