Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Mercedes scared of the big block Aussies?

As I've written about before, car brand loyalty between Ford and Holden (GM/Opel/Vauxhall to you overseas) is a national religion and the Bathurst's Mount Panorama is the Mecca that fans face to pray.

Here they race what we Aussies call V8 Supercars; incredibly powerful four-door sedans. In super exciting news Mercedes was set to join, along with Nissan. This renewed competition would bring a whole new dimension to the sport, particularly when it's essentially German V. Japanese V. Australian engineering. I can't help feeling Mercedes has gotten cold feet because they're worried about losing and being embarrassed by brands which are a fraction of the price in Australia.

It's no secret that the V8 competition does pay dividends for these brands in marketing and generally being part of the Australian landscape, but when you compare the road-going equivalent of each brand- V8 Commodore, V8 Falcon with a V8 Mercedes Benz, you're talking a discrepancy of multiple tens of thousands of dollars. If Mercedes joined and then got flogged by a Commodore, it would be hugely embarrassing for their brand in Australia.

This being said, I appreciate the Australian market is miniscule and the flip-side of the coin is, perhaps Mercedes just doesn't really care either way, especially not enough to pay for a team to join the V8 supercars. What do you think? feel free to comment below or email into exhaustpipedreams@gmail.com

Read the article here from the Sydney Morning Herald.





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