Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Mercedes-Benz C-Class as taxi in Indonesia

Referring to http://www.oto.co.id/infootomotif/berita_detail.asp?ContentID=2007052911322902000085

O my, Daimler Chrysler Indonesia (DCI) is selling its C-Class to Blue Bird for use in a taxi fleet. DCI sounds quite positive that the C-Class' luxury car image won't suffer since C-Class sales is not affected in Singapore although the cars are also used as taxi there.

I tend to disagree with DCI's opinion. I feel that the already low sales of Mercedes-Benz C-Class in Indonesia will fall because of this. Nevertheless, it shouldn't affect much though since the sales of C-Class is in the mere few hundreds of cars at most. Indonesians are very conscious of image. 90% of soap operas aired in TV won't talk about rich family's affairs and it always depict the family having certain types of cars, super big houses with golf courses, branded items, and so on. Those soap operas actually sell very well. It shows the dream and/ or of the population on being rich. On the other hand, Singapore's soap operas tend to portray lives of the average family. The focus seems to be different.

Therefore, I don't think DCI needs to be cautious in comparing Singapore's and Indonesia's society. Indonesians who can afford to buy Mercedes-Benz with cash would want to have a car similar to a taxi! However, selling as taxi might actually allow DCI to sell more C-Class? Hehe.. not sure.. I don't have the sales volume.

1 comment:

rrjexpert said...

Mercedes Benz has durable parts that is why its fitted for everyday driving.I have a Mercedes and its parts like Mercedes Benz Control Arm are really tough.That I thought Indonesian use these expensive cars for their unparalleled quality.