We're serious players of the "one-headlight" game. That's where you count the late-model cars you see at night sporting a single working headlamp; the automaker with the most singles at the end of the month wins (er, loses). It's not scientific, and it may speak somewhat to our obsessive compulsive bent, but the game does offer some insight into cars' quality.
Last week, Mercedes, particularly the C and E classes topped the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta, which had been fairly consistent one-lighters since we began counting a year or so ago. In fact, were it not for Mercedes and Volkswagen, there might be no game to play at all.
It's no secret that quality has been a problem for the two companies. But Mercedes-Benz has had more to lose by, and has lost more from, squandering its brand equity and prestige in the US for nearly a decade. Now, the company's increasing volume of increasingly sub-standard cars, which have finally reached the bottom of the quality ratings, have started affecting its bottom line, as The Autoextremist points out in his latest column. Could the once proud emblem of German build quality wind up with Jaguar in the basement offices of "Luxury Cars that Blow, Inc.?" Jag had to hit bottom before it started upward. What will it take for Mercedes to do the same?
The One Constant Thread in DaimlerChrysler's Troubles Has To Go. [The Autoextremist]