I was into cars even when I was growing up. One of the brands that didn't even register on my radar was Mercedes. And the reason is because every time I saw a Mercedes, I thought that the styling just screamed OLD PEOPLE. Here's an example from the 90s:
Back then, the "exotics" that I wanted to buy when I grew up were the BMWs, the Porsches, the Corvettes, etc. Those were the cars that really made me impatient to get old enough to drive. As far as I was concerned, Mercedes, Bentley, Buick, Rolls Royce, Cadillac, and Jaguar were all the same -- cars for old people.
I'm amazed at how Mercedes has turned it around. When I look at a Mercedes these days, the styling makes me want to buy one:
Don't get me wrong -- I would never buy one, because the styling doesn't change the fact that they are stupidly heavy, and needlessly (mechanically) complicated cars. But from a styling point of view, I dig them.
It kind of makes me wonder whether Mercedes styling has actually changed that much relative to the rest of the car market, or whether I have just "matured" as a car buyer and am starting to like the cars that are traditionally aimed at old people. I'm pretty sure that it's the former. And I think that Lexus has gone in the opposite direction -- their styling is clearly aimed at old people and is no longer appealing to the younger audiences.
Picture of 1990 Mercedes 190E via michieldijcks' Flickr photostream [flickr.com].
Labels: cars
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