[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Z-man

Mercedes is still engineering oriented. Always will be. You can't be a leader in automotive innovation, especially in safety integration, without being engineering-oriented.

Further proof: Mercedes has produced more than 80,000 in the past 125 years.

It can be easy to confuse innovative, forward thinking companies with engineering oriented companies. In the case of the three companies you mention (Lotus, McLaren and Koenigsegg) don't they use someone else's drivetrain in their cars? How is that being engineering oriented?

-Z

Mercedes had dark days during the Chrysler merger. They aren't back to the grand old days of building the best cars on Earth, but they're getting closer. Sadly they seem to be dominated by electrical engineers, because their focus is on cramming as many gizmos as possible onto each model. BMW is the same way.

I would define engineering oriented (and I'm an engineer) by the focus of doing something simply to prove that it can be done and doing it to perfection, not to satisfy a business case. Companies like Lotus, McLaren, Koeingsegg, and Pagani are PERFECT examples of this. Their cars reflect the drive to be the best, to build the best car regardless of the cost. We have a saying at work, "don't let perfect become the enemy of good enough". These carmakers are driven by perfect. Most makers, including Mercedes and Porsche, are driven by good enough because it creates a profit.