Quote:
Originally Posted by jdink
The shift in strategy responds to difficulties the two midsize German auto makers face in maintaining their profit levels, now among the highest in the industry, in the face of a struggling U.S. economy, a strong euro, the rising price of raw materials such as steel, and growing technological demands created by new fuel-efficiency and emissions rules.
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It sounds like BMW and Mercedes are facing hard times due to the looming US standards of 35 mpg (across all cars in a fleet) for 2015.
i.e. if you have one car that gets 70 mpg, you can have one that gets 1 mpg and meet the standards.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...my-rules_N.htm
Basically, because of the markets that BMW and Mercedes cater to, they will have a harder time with meeting these regulations. In order to do so they are going to have to spend a LOT of money, for which the return might not be so great due to their size.