|
The best car in the world. It's a term reserved for only two such cars - at least for the man on the street. One of them is the Rolls-Royce Phantom, and lest I get carried away by my emotions, yes it does deserve that tag. It's an engineering masterpiece, a marvel of man's best effort in delivering a magic carpet ride and what not. The second car on that same list is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, arguably a technological tour de force - a car that is a virtual test bed for next generation technologies that will seep in our future cars. And now, the S-Class is genuinely under threat.
The current model doesn't undergo a model change for at least sometime and competition is coming down hard on it. If I am to believe what Srini and Pablo have to say about the new Jaguar XJ and the new Audi A8 (read their drive reports in the September issue), then the S-Class is truly in big trouble. The XJ seems to be a perfect blend of agility and comfort, while the A8 has built up on its repertoire by becoming probably the sportiest car in its class. And those rear-view mirrors on the S-Class are bound to become even more crowded.
The head honchos at both GM and Volvo-Geely want to take a swipe at this segment. Cadillac is reportedly going to begin work on its S-Class rival and Geely's Chairman has said in no uncertain terms that a Volvo rival to the S-Class is unavoidable. Come to think about it, Volvo did plan an S-Class rival some years ago but it was shot down by Ford, then owners of both Jaguar and Volvo for fear of cannibilisation. Now that they are separate entities, the problem no longer exists. Cadillac are on a path of resurgence, what with the GM turnaround story soon to become a part of biz school case studies. But can the S-Class fend off so much competition?
For the last 30 years, Mercedes-Benz have survived on innovation to make its flagship one-of-a-kind. If anything, it will have to come once again to its rescue, except in a far greater degree than ever before and not at the cost of reliability. They have no choice but to burn the midnight oil on this one.
|
Most Popular
