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fritz said:
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VKSF said:
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fritz said:
Am I the only one who thinks that when VW and BMW split up the Rolls Royce and Bentley marques, Bentley turned right and has not looked back since then, whilst Rolls Royce turned left and immediately got lost? 
RR seemingly went more for the rapper wannabe crowd than did Bentley....but my sense is both RR/B have underwhelming sales and are on a downward sales trajectory, despite the enormous wealth creation of past 7 yrs.... 
Prob a strategically weak game to market "fashion-centric" $150K+ cars, since most guys who can afford $150K+ cars aren't into either "fashion" or "advertising"...ironically, even most of the "suits" (and capitalist-owners) in the media/entertainment business tend to drive 2-3 yo, dusty blk/silver SL/S/CL's; live in modest houses in sleepy, low-profile Brentwood/Palisades; and wear cheap, off-the-rack suits from NeimanBH...but their lifestyles prob wouldn't be very appealing as part of a rap video/lifestyles of the supposedly rich and/or famous video.... 
So just how big is the combined rapper plus rapper wannabe market?
Seems to me the new generation of Bentleys have some intrinsic value if just measured purely as automobiles, whilst the current Rolls Royce and Maybach models are totally dependant on being perceived as being a hip fashion item to sell at all. Which would mean that if they are perceived to fall out of favor among the fickle butterflies who think of themselves as trend-setters, then ........................
PS: It is only remotely relatred to the above, but ..........
A few weeks ago I passed a Maybach limo on a few occasions which had street-parked overnight in a "non-affluent" area. Since it was in the area of the Daimler Chrysler factory, I guessed an employee had got to drive a company car home a few times, since nobody else around here seems to be buying the darn thing. 
Anyway, long story short, I caught myself thinking on a couple of occasions on seeing the chrome radiator grill that I was approaching some new Kia or Hyundai model which I was not familiar with. Don't think that that was the kind of perception that DC was hoping for 
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Rapper and rapper wannabe mkt is clearly not large enough....and given their fashion sense/nonsense, their "tastes" tend to change faster than any mfr can accommodate to stay in vogue/favor...esp difficult for "new" brands like RR/Lambo/B, etc in trying to incr mkt share in US is that arguably more "mainstream" super-affluent in US (the vast bulk of the potential buyer base) tend to be car-disinterested guys....loyal Merc buyers, w/F for wkends if they even care for some semblance of a sportscar....or if their kids pester them enough to get one...
Know a few affluent guys who got a B CGT for commuting, simply b/c they became bored of owning 3-4 (or more) different copies of the same-CL/SL55 body&tech platform over past 5-7 yrs....needless to say, know many guys eagerly awaiting getting back into a new, latest-tech CL63/SL63 after the brief fling w/B...
Maybach was a disaster from get-go in US
....reality is only city in US where affluent are routinely driven via limo is Manhattan....which is dominated by financial guys, who tend to be low-profile and prefer a nondescript, blk S-Class and driver to follow them around Manhattan...and take them to heliport or to private air fields in NJ/Westchester to leave NYC...they tend not to favor advertising who they are, b/c everyone at their offices/favored restaurants, bars and clubs/private air field, etc already knows who they are and roughly what their net worth is....ironically, Maybachs/RR/B tend to connotate guys who may/may not have any real net worth, but who want general public to believe they are important/super-affluent/famous....and a large fraction of the other May/RR/B were loaned/leased at cheap rates to various high-end hotels around coastal US as "house" limos for guests
