There are two big names in the Automotive Industry today; Sergio Marchionne, Chairman of FIAT Group and Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of Daimler AG and both are in the news a lot lately. Sergio is the man who took Maserati and transformed the legendary sports car builder with a rich racing heritage into a manufacturer of luxury four door sedans. Remember the legendary Ghibli of 1967-1973 era, a car which sold more units than the iconic Ferrari Daytona? It is now a luxury cruiser with four doors thanks to Sergio. As far as I am concerned, this is not a transformation, it is a hit job with profound implications.

Dieter too has transformed Mercedes brand with its long racing heritage from a maker of sport sedans into a maker of upscale sedans. Gone from the Mercedes brand are shifters from center consoles and V12s with 4 valves per cylinder. In addition, Dieter is also responsible for a new marketing strategy for Mercedes that offers cars at the USD 100,000 price range without rear view cameras and power folding side mirrors. Just to get the power folding outside mirrors you have to opt for a Premium Package that will cost an additional USD 4,000 albeit it offers very little else in return. Some would call that approach to marketing a highway robbery but I will just call it short sighted and greedy bordering stupid.

Yet, these two are not ordinary names in automotive history. They are both highly successful business men and both are said to be filthy rich by anyone’s standards. Sergio is said to be worth 270 million US dollars according to internet posts while Dieter’s worth is said to be into billions. Regretfully, these two men are not car guys. In reality they are simply ruthless bean counters with complete disregard for what cars stand for in terms of human creativity and intelligence. They never raced cars in their life time preferring the luxury of a corner office to the adrenalin rush of being behind the wheel of a sports car with a high revving engine. If it was up to them, we would have never seen the legendry E-Type grace our roads and highways. They consider cars to be just another consumer items like underwear and tooth brushes therefore another opportunity to turn around a quick buck. Under their leadership, their brands have drifted away from the vision of their founders and their images have taken a beating and continue their tragic downward spiral. As you can tell, these two are NOT passionate about cars like Enzo Ferrari, Ferruccio Lamborghini. Ferdinand Porsche or Ettore Bugatti used to be and that is simply an unacceptable status quo for any passionate car guy.