Audi, Mercedes Seek to Lure Mainstream With Cheaper Cars

Soon, they will be competing with Hyundai.

And soon, those Euro badgewhores will be crying for betting their lives on those German brands.

Seriously, the European brands have no souls.

Toyota/Lexus = Number 1.

Yes because Lexus never does this, oops wait. ES 300 = Camry, CT = Prius, HS = Avensis = failure.

Get over it, it's called survival, Luxury marques like Bimmer and Benz realized a while ago the that in order to remain independent, they would have to expand the product portfolio to more mainstream.

Rolls, Bentley, Audi, Porsche, Land Rover, Jaguar, Lamborghini-All subsidiaries and rely on parent companies

Lexus, Acura, Infiniti- created by their parent companies Toyota, Honda, and Nissan

Mercedes-Benz and BMW have to expand for survival, cars like the 1, 2, 3 Series, and A, B, C Class pay the bills and allow independence

That is not the reason they are bringing in cheaper cars. The have to increase their fleet MPG average to meet cafe standards. What is wrong with you people don't you know anything about the car business? I guess reading a few car magazines make everyon a pundit.....

You do realize by your logic, that all a manufacture would have to do is change power trains and trash their high performance engines for hybrid or more efficient ones...

While fuel efficiency is on the list, you should know that market share/growth/profitability is at the top of every Auto Exec's list for the sake of their shareholders alone...

Put down that car magazine. You have no idea what your talking about.